The Greenclothed Warrior
by Patriot1776
Summary: A crossover fic with InuYasha and his friends in the world of Legend of Zelda. InuYasha and his friends have been pulled through a dimensional gate into the land of Hyrule and must help Link find and destroy Ganondorf.
1. Prelude

The Green-clothed Warrior,

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

by: Patriot1776

_Author's Introduction: This fic is a 'what if' scenario exploring what would happen if InuYasha and the gang met up with Link and the other characters from the Legend of Zelda games. I decided to do this because I'm a fan of both Inuyasha and Legend of Zelda. The plot follows along with the Zelda N64 game Ocarina of Time, but starts where Link has emerged from the Temple of Time as an adult, wielding the Master Sword. I've obviously also made accommodations in the plot to allow InuYasha and the gang to fit in. Big thing I need to mention though, is that Navi the Fairy does not exist in this story, as I grew to hate her while playing _Ocarina of Time

Prelude: _A Mysterious Hole in the Woods_

"How long have we been traveling in these woods, Miroku?" InuYasha asked in a frustrated voice. They had entered the woods a few hours earlier, following a path that they had been hoping led to possibly Naraku's real castle, and not just another illusion.

"Most of the day. I'm puzzled myself, InuYasha. We should've at least found a clearing by now." The monk replied, rubbing his chin confusedly.

"Are you sure we've been going in the right direction?" Kagome then asked him, pushing her heavily loaded bike along. Shippo was sitting in the front basket, while her huge duffel bag of supplies sat on the back.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've just never noticed the woods being this thick before."

"You've gotten us lost again. Dammit!" InuYasha then shouted. He started to turn and head and in the other direction, but Sango stepped in front of him. "What are you doing? Can't you tell he's us gotten us lost?" he snapped at her. She then shot him a hard look.

"We've gone too far to turn back. We might as well keep going." She then said straight to his face.

"Feh." InuYasha then muttered. They then continued along the path a little further, with InuYasha complaining the whole way about why they needed to turn around.

That's when Shippo first noticed it.

"Hey, look at that." he said, taking the lollypop out of his mouth and pointing at the huge hollow log up ahead that the path was leading to.

"What is it, Shippo?" Kagome asked.

"That hollow log up ahead, it looks strange."

"Yes, and the path is leading into it." Miroku stated. The log was sticking out of an embankment, and was huge enough to walk through. It seemed to lead into a cave.

"Aw great. Now do you fools see why we should've turned around?" InuYasha then said, throwing his arms up in the air in disgust. He started to turn around again, but this time it was Kagome who stopped him. "Now what wench?" he said to her, annoyed.

"InuYasha, I'm sensing a strange magic from that log. Seems like the power of the Sacred Jewel, but stronger and different." she then said, pointing.

"Are you saying there's Jewel Shards inside of it?" asked Sango, confused.

"I can't say. What I'm sensing is somewhat like Jewel Shards, but different and somewhat more powerful, like there's some kind of presence emanating from it."

InuYasha had now turned around and was walking toward the log.

"Hey wait, I thought you wanted to leave." Kagome then shouted to him.

"Hell no. Now that you're saying there's jewel shards inside, I want to check it out." he replied over his shoulder.

"Wait up!" shouted Sango as the others raced to catch up with him.

As InuYasha neared the log, something strange began to happen. The inside of the log began to glow, and he suddenly felt himself being pulled towards it!

"What the hell? What's going on?" he said. He drew the Tetsusaiga, and dug it into the ground to try and stop himself, but it didn't help. The Tetsusaiga started digging a trench in the ground as he was still being pulled toward the dark opening in the log.

"InuYasha!" Kagome shouted, then her and the others started being pulled too!

"Kagome, all of you, get outta here!" InuYasha shouted as he neared the log's opening.

"We can't! We're being pulled too! It's as strong as my Wind Tunnel!" Miroku shouted, vainly trying to use his staff as an anchor to keep himself from being pulled.

"Oh, shii-ahhhh!" InuYasha shouted as he was pulled into the log, disappearing as he entered it!

"InuYash-aaaaAAAAHHHH!" Kagome screamed as her and the others were pulled into the log, disappearing as well!


	2. Strange Village of Children And a Devast...

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **I**: _Strange Village of Children And a Devastated City_

"Aahh!" InuYasha shouted as he and the Tetsusaiga were ejected from the other side of the log. No sooner had he landed on his back and in the grass, than the others were ejected from the log as well.

"Oh shit!" InuYasha shouted as he put up his arms just in time to shield himself as the others landed on top of him! He groaned. "Damn that hurt. Would you guys get off of me now, please!"

"Sorry, 'bout that." Kagome said as her and the others got up off of him.

"Feh, it's okay." he replied as he got up. He then retrieved and resheathed Tetsusaiga. Kagome, meanwhile, stood her bike back up and checked it for damage, the others checking to make sure they still had their belongings.

"Hey, where are we?" Shippo then asked, noticing their strange surroundings for the first time.

"Huh?" said InuYasha.

"What is this place?" Sango asked, looking around. They were standing at the top of a fenced ledge, overlooking a strange looking village. The village's huts looked as if they had been built out of huge, hollowed out trees. Forest was all around the village. After looking over their surroundings, InuYasha looked back at the log they had come through.

"Where the hell did that lo-" He never finished the sentence as a huge, venus-flytrap looking plant shot up out of the ground to his side and bit at him. "What the hell? Oh no you don't!" Tetsusaiga was back out in an instant and InuYasha quickly cleaved the plant monster in two.

"What was that thing?" Sango asked, before being hit in the back by a strange wooden nut. "Oof!" She spun around and noticed a strange, yellow, leafy creature shoot another nut at her. She instinctively used her boomerang to block it, then threw it at the creature. It was effortlessly reduced to a pile of leaves.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time we bugged out of here!" InuYasha growled. He then tried to jump back into the log, but an invisible magic force field stopped him and bounced him back! "Ouch! What in the..." he looked at the log again. He then tried to attack whatever had knocked him back, but only got sent backwards again. "Great, just great! We're stuck in this freakin' village! There must be another way out!"

"I think I see one. There's another log-tunnel down there, at the far end of the village." Sango pointed. "But I've got the impression we're going to have to fight our way to it." She could see more of the same creatures her and InuYasha had just destroyed.

"I'm on it." said InuYasha. He jumped down from the ledge, and fought more of the plant monsters and leaf-creatures. Eventually, he had the entire village cleared of them, and then rejoined his friends. "Done, now let's blow this place."

"Wait. Shouldn't we ask the villagers for info about where we are and what this place is?" said Kagome.

"No, we should just get out of here." InuYasha growled.

"Kagome's right. We still don't know where we've wound up. We need to learn more about whatever this place or dimension is before we just go bounding off into it." Miroku stated.

"Feh, alright then!" InuYasha said in an aggravated voice. He picked up Kagome's bike and Kiara grew to her huge size so the others could climb on her. They then descended the ledge into the now safe village. When they walked into one of the huts, a confused look came across their faces.

Inside the hut they had chosen were what looked like four children! Two boys and two girls with pointed ears and dressed in green clothing stared back at them with bewildered looks.

"Where do you come from?" one of the boys asked.

"We came out of the log up on the ledge." Kagome replied.

"You come from the Lost Woods? How? Usually when non-Kokiri enter the Lost Woods, they never return. You all strange. You first enter Kokiri Forest from Hyrule Field?" a girl asked.

"What are the Kokiri, the Lost Woods, and Hyrule Field? We've never heard of those names." Shippo then asked.

"We, and everybody else in this village are Kokiri. The Lost Woods is where log on the ledge leads into. Hyrule Field is where the other log leads. We Kokiri can't enter that log and enter Hyrule Field, otherwise we'll die. This village, Kokiri Forest, is the only place where we can live." the other Kokiri girl replied.

"Where are your parents?" Sango then asked.

"Kokiri have no parents. Only parent Kokiri know is the Great Deku Tree. But alas, the Great Deku Tree died seven years ago." a Kokiri boy replied. It was then when one of the girls noticed InuYasha's dog-like ears.

"Ooh, pretty ears! Lemme touch!" she said. She then jumped onto InuYasha's shoulders and began to play with his ears. InuYasha started to growl, his face welling up with anger.

"Get off of me, you wretch!" he shouted, using his arm to bat her off. She landed on her feet, behind him, and started giggling. InuYasha wheeled around to face her, looking like he was ready to explode.

"InuYasha, SIT!" Kagome ordered. WHAM! InuYasha did a faceplant into the floor, and then all of the Kokiri in the hut bursted out laughing raucously.

"What the hell did you do that for!" he shouted, looking up at her.

"It looked like you were about to either claw her to pieces or hack her in two." Kagome said with a stern look on her face. InuYasha got back up grumbling. Then Miroku spoke.

"What is the name of this whole land? You mentioned that the field outside of this village is named Hyrule Field. Is Hyrule the name of this land we are in?" he asked the Kokiri.

"Yes, this land is named Hyrule, but things have not been peaceful here for the last seven years." one of them replied.

"Why is that?" InuYasha then asked, forgetting about the incident with his ears.

"Well, according to Saria, the one among us who talks to the forest spirits, seven years ago, a man by the name of Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle, where the Hylian Royal Family and King lived. He took over, and shortly thereafter, monsters started appearing all over Hyrule, including Kokiri Forest. The monsters weren't that bad at first, but things have steadily gone downhill since that time, up to today."

Miroku thought about what he had just heard, and sighed when the puzzle came together in his mind.

"Well, I think I now know why we're here." He then said, dejectedly.

"Why?" InuYasha impatiently asked.

"I think we've been sent here by some force to be this land's deliverers. I think we may have been sent to help get rid of this Ganondorf fellow somehow."

"Great, just great. We have to save this stupid world while Naraku is free to do whatever the hell he wants in our own!" InuYasha threw his arms up in disgust. "What makes you think that, Miroku?"

"The key clue is that we aren't able to go back through the log we came here through. That, and also, there's a dark presence in the air emanating not from within this village, but seemingly from the log that supposedly leads to Hyrule Field."

"That's it! That's what I was sensing! I must have been sensing this place's dark energy coming through when we first found the log!" Kagome suddenly realized.

"Well, whatever. C'mon, let's go and find this Hyrule Castle and Ganondorf, and get this over with." InuYasha then said.

"Yeah, I want to get back to fighting Naraku." Sango then said.

"Agreed, let's get moving then." Miroku gave in. They thanked the Kokiri for their hospitality and left Kokiri Forest through the log tunnel leading into Hyrule Field.

-

The trek across Hyrule Field had been surprisingly easy. The field was composed of mostly rolling hills and plain, with a tree here and there occasionally. InuYasha was walking, Kagome and Shippo were on the bike, and Miroku and Sango were riding Kiara. They had been travelling in one direction, the direction that Kagome believed was the source of the powerful magic she was sensing.

"Kagome, can you sense anything in particular about this magic?" Miroku asked down at her.

"All I can say is that it is very strong, and not of shards of the Sacred Jewel. That much I can tell, other than that, I'm just as much in the dark as you are."

"Whatever it is, it better be leading us to wherever this Ganondorf is so I can cleave him in two and we can get outta here." InuYasha said bluntly. Just then a strange apparition faded into existence about fifty or so yards ahead of them. They all stopped, wondering what it was.

"What is that?" Shippo asked confusedly. The apparition appeared to be a strange ghost, with a solid black face and yellow slits for eyes, and apparently carrying a lantern. It began to advance toward them menacingly.

"I got this one." Kagome said, getting off her bike and readying a sacred arrow. She centered her arrow up, and fired. The glowing arrow hit home, disintegrating the ghost and leaving a small, blue looking spirit behind. InuYasha walked up to it carefully and looked at it, but after a few moments, the evil looking spirit disappeared.

"Hmph, didn't seem like much. Nice shot Kagome, though I doubt you needed to waste an arrow on something so weak." he said back at her.

"Well, at least I got some practice in." she replied. They then noticed the sun was starting to set, so they decided to stop and pitch camp for the night. After they all had their dinner of instant noodles and sauce cooked on the propane stove Kagome always kept in her duffel bag, they took turns sleeping and keeping watch during the night.

They got off to an early start the next morning and Kagome said the magical presence was getting stronger and that she believed they were getting closer. They continued on for sometime, when InuYasha suddenly stopped and started sniffing the air.

"The stench of death and decay." he stated.

"W-Which direction?" Shippo asked in a slightly scared voice.

"Straight ahead, in the direction we're going. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Also at that time, Sango happened to look off to her right, and also noticed something ominous.

"Guys, look out that way." she pointed. Way off in the distance, they all saw a large mountain, but not just an ordinary mountain. This one appeared to have a ring of fire circling around its peak, and the ring was slowly rotating too.

"What the hell is that?" InuYasha asked.

"I don't know, but I've got the feeling that that's not natural, or how it's supposed to look." Miroku said. They continued a little bit further, the stench of death and decay growing stronger and stronger until they approached a large white gatehouse and walls. Also, the sky had started to turn ominously dark. Kagome then spoke up.

"It's in there, that's where the magic is emanating." She pointed through the gate.

"It's also where the stench is coming from." InuYasha quipped in. Strangely, they found the remains of the gate in the moat. They went on in through the gatehouse, and gasped.

Before them were the ruins of a great town. Frames of what were once buildings were everywhere. An evil wind howled through the ruins, and the sun did not shine through the now dark brown sky. Up ahead, they saw the city square, utterly devastated.

"What happened here? Could demons have done this?" Sango asked out loud. Upon further inspection of some of the ruins, Miroku spoke up.

"Huh-uh. Ordinary demons couldn't have done this. The burn marks on these ruins tell me an army looted and burned this place." he said. InuYasha joined him in inspecting some of the ruins then added:

"There's a little bit of a metallic smell on these marks too. Demons definitely didn't do this. I don't smell any traces of them."

"Hey, look over there!" Kagome pointed. A little distance away from the square of the ruins, appeared to be the only structure in normal condition. The structure was a large, cathedral-like building, the fire ringed mountain being visible off in the distance behind it. Walking over to it, they noticed that the building looked rather odd, with a symbol of three golden triangles forming a larger triangle over the door.

"What a strange building." Shippo said.

"Very strange looking." Miroku observed. He wanted to go inside, but the others stopped him, wanting instead to investigate the town more. As they returned to the square, they failed to notice a new presence.

Several zombie-like creatures had appeared in the square. As they reentered the square, the zombies gazed at them and they were all suddenly paralyzed and unable to move!

"What the devil? I can't move!" InuYasha shouted.

"We all can't!" Miroku shouted.

"What are we going to do?" Shippo then said in a very scared voice.

InuYasha tried to reach for the Tetsusaiga, but his arms wouldn't move an inch. The zombies were getting closer, and closer, until one got to Kagome and grabbed her and started choking her!

"Kagome!" InuYasha screamed in distress as one grabbed him. Sango was next to be grabbed.

"Sango!" Miroku shouted, then one grabbed him.


	3. The Hero Clad in Green and The Bet

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **II**: _The Hero Clad in Green and The Bet._

The zombies had an iron grip on each of them. Kagome was starting black out, when suddenly, the zombie holding her was hacked in two by a sword. The figure holding the sword then moved to Sango and killed the zombie holding her. Miroku's zombie was the next to be put to the sword, followed by InuYasha's and Shippo's. They then dropped to the ground, gasping and wheezing for air. Kagome was the first to look up at their rescuer.

The man who had rescued them was about the same height as InuYasha, was wearing a green tunic and elvish hat, white leggings and arm coverings, and brown boots, with his elvish hat drooping down his back to the middle of it, like a hood. In his left hand was a blue-hilted claymore, the sword that had killed the zombies. On his right arm was a large iron shield that was ornately decorated. He had long, pointed ears, blue eyes, and beautiful blond hair. His face held no emotion, but was full of seriousness and intensity.

"Come, we must leave this area. They'll be back soon." he said to all of them. They hesitated, unsure whether to trust this stranger. "I'm serious, they'll be back. Come if you wish to live." he shouted back at them. They still hesitated, but when a zombie started to reform behind Kagome, InuYasha grabbed her bike in one arm, her in the other, and started following him. The others did so too. Once outside the gate and safely back in Hyrule Field, Kagome broke the ice.

"Thank you so much, whoever you..."

"Link's the name." their green-clothed rescuer said.

"Right, thank you so much, Link."

"What were you doing in there? Trying to get yourselves killed?" Link then asked sternly.

"What? We were perfectly all right in there. We didn't need your help." InuYasha said to him.

"I saw otherwise. Now tell me the truth. What were you doing there? You weren't going after Ganondorf, were you?"

"As a matter-of-fact, we were."

At this, Link shook his head and looked down, then muttered to himself.

"You are very lucky I was there to save you. Otherwise, none of you would be standing here." he finally said.

"What do you mean by that crap! I could've taken him! Here, I'll show you!" InuYasha shouted. He then drew Tetsusaiga and ran toward Link threateningly. Link only put up his sword and easily stopped InuYasha's swing. InuYasha then started swinging at Link furiously. Link was able to parry his blows, but he was getting pushed back from the force of them. The sounds of Tetsusaiga striking Link's shield and sword were very loud and making the others cringe. Sparks of energy were flying too whenever the Tetsusaiga came in contact with Link's sword.

'_This guy's strong physically, but his skill is not that good.'_ Link thought, parrying another swing from the hanyou. _'Why does he have dog-like ears? He seems to have much more strength then his looks suggest.'_ Just then, InuYasha brought Tetsusaiga down hard. Link just barely put his shield up in time, but the momentum from the impact sent Link's shield back real hard. Seeing an opportunity, Link then threw a quick left handed punch and slugged InuYasha in the jaw with the hilt of his sword, knocking him down. Link then backed away from him.

InuYasha got back up, growling in rage and baring his fangs. Blood had started to dribble from his mouth from being hit by the hilt of Link's sword. He then summoned the Wind Scar and sent it flying toward Link!

'_What the…! No chance of blocking that with my shield! I've got to try and deflect it with the Master Sword!'_ Link thought as the attack sped toward him. He waited until just seconds before the attack would hit him, then swung his sword at the attack.

To the amazement of all except Link, the Wind Scar was reflected off of Link's sword and headed back towards InuYasha!

'_WHAT!'_ InuYasha thought as he jumped out of the way, barely in time. The attack sped by him and shattered a few trees a few feet behind. Immediately Link ran at him, so fast in fact that InuYasha had no time to react. Link swung his sword at the base of Tetsusaiga's blade, using his sword to push InuYasha's arm and the Tetsusaiga to the side, leaving InuYasha wide open to attack. Link then crashed into InuYasha with his shield, knocking the bewildered half-demon back to the ground, hard. Link then put the tip of his sword to InuYasha's throat.

"NO! Don't kill him!" Kagome screamed, her eyes teary.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill him." Link said, not taking his eyes off of InuYasha. He continued. "You have a powerful weapon, but not quite the skills to match it. Now sheathe your weapon, and keep it sheathed. I don't want to have to show you just how good I am with a sword, because I'm afraid I'll actually kill you." With that, he sheathed his own sword and shield on his back and helped InuYasha to his feet. InuYasha was grumbling to himself as he got back up.

"How did you reflect his Wind Scar attack?" Sango asked him as InuYasha sheathed Tetsusaiga.

"That's simple." Link replied, casually drawing his sword again, looking at it, then showing it to everyone. "It can reflect any magic that's thrown at it. It's called the Master Sword."

"It can reflect...ANY magic thrown at it?" InuYasha asked, gulping as he said it.

"Yes, and now for my question. Why are you all going after Ganondorf, and what are your names?" Link then asked as he re-sheathed the Master Sword.

"I'm Miroku, and this is Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and the one who you fought with is InuYasha. We believe we've been sent here to vanquish this Ganondorf. This land is not our home. We're from a different dimension and believe the only way to get back to our own world is to kill him."

Link stared at them for a moment, then shook his head.

"Who are you looking at? It better not be at me." InuYasha growled at him.

"Your intentions are good, but none of you have the means to carry them out. That includes you, InuYasha." Link finally said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" InuYasha said directly to Link's face, his own red with rage.

"What I'm saying is that I'm the only one who can kill him. You all can help me, but I'm the only one who can actually kill him. And yet, none of us can even get to his castle yet."

"Why can't we reach his castle?" Shippo then asked.

"Because I had just been to it and tried to enter it when I found you. His castle is unreachable at the moment because it's sitting on a platform that floats over a moat of lava. There's no bridge to get to the platform. Even if you did manage to somehow get in, none of your weapons would've had any affect on him anyway."

"Not even my Tetsusaiga?" InuYasha asked.

"Nope. Not even that. The only weapon capable of actually harming him is the one I carry, the Master Sword. That's because of the magical artifact he has."

"You mean, he's got the Sacred Jewel, the Shikon no Tama?" Kagome asked in a scared voice.

"I've never heard of that artifact. Tell me about it." Link ordered her. Kagome then launched into an explanation about the Sacred Jewel. When she finished, Link sighed.

"That little stone is nothing compared to what Ganondorf possesses." he finally said.

"WHAT!" all the others dropped their jaws in unison.

"What could possibly be more powerful than the Sacred Jewel?" Miroku asked after recovering from his shock.

"The Triforce. That's what Ganondorf has. It's an inanimate object, unable to tell good from evil, and it contains the power of the goddesses that created Hyrule. With it, you can create your own world, or destroy the one you stand upon. You can make yourself immortal, etc. You can obviously see Ganondorf's choices." Link then gestured back through the destroyed gate with that sentence.

"What does the Triforce look like?" Shippo then asked. Link then turned around to show them his shield. On it was the same design that was over the door to the cathedral in the ruins: three golden triangles forming a larger triangle.

"See the crest of golden triangles painted on my shield? That's what the Triforce looks like." Link then said as he turned back around.

"Is it this 'Triforce' that makes him invincible then?" Sango then asked.

"It makes him almost invincible, but not quite. That's where the Master Sword comes into play. The Master Sword was forged ages ago to be a check against the powers of the Triforce. It was only to be used in case the Triforce fell into the hands of one with an evil heart, like Ganondorf. Only one a with righteous heart may use the Master Sword."

Miroku thought about all of this. Then a grave conclusion came to him.

"Guys, it's a good thing we're here. With such awesome power at his command, I'm afraid this Ganondorf is going to make Naraku seem like a weakling whenever we fight him. It's a good bet that he'll try to take over our world too, if he finds out about it." he said.

"Indeed. Ganondorf will only be satisfied when everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, including your own world, comes under his rule. The Triforce is what will allow him to do it." Link then stated.

"So we have to kill a man with almost god-like powers huh? Wonderful." InuYasha complained, then sitting on the ground.

"InuYasha I feel the same way as you do, but complaining about it ain't gonna help. At the moment, even I cannot enter his castle." Link then said. InuYasha then got up and walked over to Link.

"Well, how are you going to become more powerful, so you can?" he asked.

"I need to get six magic medallions. I've got one already, but to get the others, I'll need to go through and purify five temples that are throughout Hyrule. Since you all are here, that part just got a little bit easier, since you can help me."

"Where's the first temple at?"

"The Lost Woods, adjacent to Kokiri Forest, but the person who told me all of this told me that at the moment I cannot even enter it. But first, I need to get a horse. Follow me if you want, but I'm headed to Lon Lon Ranch."

"Let's get going then." said InuYasha.

They all then set out for Lon Lon Ranch, in the middle of Hyrule Field. Sango offered Link a spot on Kiara's back, but he declined, choosing instead to run or walk on foot until he had a horse. Link was puzzled when he saw Kagome and Shippo riding the bike, not knowing what to think of it. It took them awhile, but they finally got to the ranch by late afternoon. The ranch was huge, with a large corral dominating the place. Surrounding the corral was a racetrack of some sorts. At the entrance to the ranch stood the ranch house, and a stable. Link first tried looking for Talon, the ranch owner, but was surprised to see Ingo, the ranch hand instead standing out by the corral, wearing fancy clothes.

"Where's Talon?" he asked him.

"Talon is no longer the owner of this ranch. The Great Ganondorf saw how much of a lazy bum he was and handed the ranch over to me." Ingo said proudly. Kagome walked up to Link and took him aside.

"I don't believe he's telling the truth." she whispered to him.

"I don't think so either." he whispered back to her. Link then motioned for the others to follow him, and walked over to the covered stable and entered it. It was in there they found the person Link was looking for. Inside was a beautiful young brunette, wearing a tan dress. But she looked weary-eyed too, and was holding a bucket. Miroku shifted a little upon seeing her, and started to walk towards her, with that certain look on his face. Link noticed this, and immediately delivered a powerful left hook to Miroku's face! POW! Miroku grunted as he was sent sprawling to the floor, dazed. His right eye had started swelling up immediately.

"Try anything else, and next time you get it between the legs." Link then said angrily, towering over him. Miroku looked up at him with a frightened look on his face and backed away. Link then turned back to the woman.

"Malon, where's Talon? Do you recognize me? It's me, Link." he asked her.

"Link? Wait a minute. You look just like the green-clad boy that stopped by here seven years ago, just older and more handsome. Are you him?" the woman, Malon, asked. Link nodded. "I thought so. So Link is your name, huh? Whatever you do, don't believe anything that Ingo tells you. He kicked Talon out a month or so ago, and forces me to help him. I have no choice but to obey, because if I don't, he abuses and treats the horses badly. He won't let me leave the ranch either. There's nothing I can do."

"What about Epona? Is she still here? Ingo better not have done anything to her!" Link then asked.

"That's another problem. Ingo is trying to tame Epona so that he can present her to Ganondorf. I haven't taught him the song to tame her with. I'll die before I do that. He's had no success so far taming her since he doesn't know the song."

"Why don't we just kill the man and be done with it?" InuYasha then asked.

"Who are you?" Malon then asked, looking at him.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce my new friends to you. This is InuYasha, Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Miroku. It was Miroku who was making that lusty advance toward you earlier. I found them wandering around what used to be Hyrule Castle Town Market." Link then introduced them to her.

"Nice to meet you all. Anyway, don't you dare kill Mr. Ingo. I won't allow it. I believe he still has a good heart inside. He just needs to be humbled." Malon then replied. That gave Link an idea.

"What? Oh, well. I guess you women never change." InuYasha then said.

"Hey!" Kagome yelled at him.

"I think I know what she's talking about. Come. We shall give Mr. Ingo a humbling he'll never forget." Link then said, rubbing his chin. Everybody except Malon followed back outside to the corral. Link meanwhile, had noticed that Kagome had a bow on her. "How many arrows do you have on you?" he asked her.

"What?" she replied.

"How many arrows have you got? I'd like to borrow your bow for a minute." Kagome then checked her quiver.

"I've got 5."

"That's more than enough. May I borrow it then for a few minutes?"

"Hold on a second. Those arrows of hers are magical, and they are her only means of defending herself should she become separated from us." InuYasha stated to Link as he stepped in between them.

"InuYasha, it's alright. They only glow like they usually do when _I_ use them. In somebody else's hands, they're just normal arrows."

"Are you sure?" InuYasha asked her, a lot of doubt in his voice.

"Yes. I don't mind if he uses them."

"Feh. OK, then." InuYasha reluctantly let Link take her bow and her arrows. Link then approached Mr. Ingo.

"How good are you with a bow?" Link asked him.

"I've had some practice. I think I'm a pretty good shot." replied Mr. Ingo.

"Good enough to hit a pot on top the stables from the other side of the ranch?" Link asked.

"What? Are you that good?"

"Yes, and I'm willing to lay 100 rupees on the line to prove it." At that, InuYasha and the others eyes blinked in unison.

"OK. What do you want if I lose?"

"I get my choice of horse to leave the ranch with, for free."

"You're on." Link then went and got a ladder and set it up on a wall of the stables, set up two pots on the roof, and climbed back down. Ingo meanwhile had went to get his bow. They all then assembled on the other side of the ranch.

"I'll go first." Link stated. Taking Kagome's bow, and one arrow, he carefully lined up. 'Even though this is my first time with a bow, I was a crack-shot with my slingshot, so this shouldn't be too hard to adjust to.' Link thought. He took careful aim, slowly focusing his sight on one of the pots. He then let fly. The arrow soared through the air normally, without any glow on it whatsoever. The shot was dead on, and the arrow hit dead center, shattering the pot to pieces.

"Nice shot. I'm impressed." Ingo then said. He then took careful aim, and let fly. Unfortunately for him, the wind blew as his arrow neared the remaining pot. The wind knocked the arrow off course, and missed. "Shoot! Looks like you win, boy."

"Nice try nonetheless." Link said to him, giving Kagome her bow and quiver back. Keeping his side of the bet, Ingo first gave Link basic info on how to ride a horse. After receiving this and being let into the corral, Link said he wanted to try a few out in the corral before making his choice. He had decided not to choose Epona right away to keep from making Ingo suspicious. After trying a few of the other horses and getting used to them, he then walked outside the corral, and to everybody's puzzlement, got out a blue-colored ocarina, and played a few notes on it. A beautiful red and brown mare with a white mane then casually trotted out and Link got up on it. That's when Ingo realized it was Epona!

"Hey! You can't have that horse! I'm going to be giving that one to the Great Ganondorf! How'd you tame that wild horse right under my nose anyway?" he shouted up at Link.

"That's a secret I'm not telling you. Besides, you're starting to break your end of the bet. You agreed to let me have any one of the horses I wanted if you lost, right InuYasha?" Link asked him.

"That's right. You did agree to let him have any horse he wanted if you lost the bet. You keep your end of the deal, or I get out this." InuYasha said glaring at him, then gesturing towards his sheathed Tetsusaiga. Mr. Ingo looked as if he was going to explode from rage, but then got calm, and walked over to the gate at the entrance to the ranch.

"Well, as promised, I'll let you keep the horse, but," He then closed the gate. "I'll never let you or your friends leave this ranch!"


	4. Link's Story

The Green-cloathed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **III**: _Link's Story_

"What! Why you..." InuYasha bared his fangs and started to run at Ingo.

"InuYasha, SIT!" Kagome shouted. After he slammed to the ground, Link jumped off Epona, ran up to him, and put the Master Sword to his throat again.

"Don't do it." he said to him. InuYasha then looked at Kagome.

"What is it with you women, huh? Can't you see he's not going to let us out?" he shouted at her.

"I know of a way to get us out of here without bloodshed." Link said to him calmly. InuYasha then grumbled.

"Feh. OK, I won't kill him. Now let me back up." He then said. Link calmly sheathed the Master Sword.

"Hey, why did you stop? I was enjoying that." Ingo then said with a grin on his face. InuYasha again looked at him threateningly, but calmed himself back down when Link put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back, shaking his head at him. They then walked back over to where the others were. InuYasha was the first to speak.

"OK, peacemaker." he said to Link. "How are we getting out of here without killing Mr. Ingo?"

"You're obviously a half-demon. How high can you jump?" Link asked him.

"What the hell has that got to do with anything?"

Link then asked them all to huddle closer, and laid out his plan, gesturing occasionally to one of the outer walls of the ranch. When he finished, InuYasha had calmed down much more, and was grinning mischievously. He then picked up Kagome's bike, and she got on his back. They then walked over to Mr. Ingo.

"Sorry, but we have to leave now." InuYasha said to him. Mr. Ingo looked puzzled, then his face turned to shock as he watched InuYasha carry Kagome and her bike over to the outer wall, then calmly jump clear over it!

"We have to leave too." Miroku said to him as Kiara grew to her large size and he, Sango, and Shippo got on her. Kiara then gracefully flew towards the same wall.

"No hard feelings, cheater!" Shippo shouted at him as Kiara cleared the wall. Ingo then looked at Link, now on Epona, and grinned.

"Your friends were able to get out of here, but I don't think you will. You have no magic trick up your sleeve." he said.

"You're right, I don't have a magic trick to get me over the wall. The only thing I've got is a good horse!" Link then shouted at him as he reared Epona into a full gallop towards the wall. Mr. Ingo's jaw dropped to the ground when they neared the wall as he saw Epona and Link also jump clear over it!

-

Link and Epona landed on the other side of the wall easily and met the others there.

"Well, where we off to next?" Sango asked, smiling.

"Kakariko Village, at the base of Death Mountain." Link replied.

"D-D-D-Death Mountain!" Shippo then said in a scared voice.

"Is that the mountain with the ring of fire circling its peak?" asked Miroku.

"Yes. The village is where the person I met in the Temple of Time told me to go first if I wanted to get the medallions. He said I'll find the item there that I'll need if I wish to enter the Forest Temple." They then started off toward Death Mountain. Unfortunately, night came soon, and they decided to pitch camp. Link was again mystified as he watched Kagome get out her stove and food and begin cooking. As they helped InuYasha collect wood for a fire, Miroku struck up a conversation with Link.

"That Temple of Time you talked about, was that the cathedral-looking building we saw amongst the ruins?" he asked Link.

"Yes it is. It is where you can enter the dimensional plane that was the resting place for the Triforce, the Sacred Realm." Link replied, not looking up as he helped InuYasha build a fire pit and stack the wood in it..

"How did Ganondorf enter it?" Kagome then asked, looking up from the stove as InuYasha started building the fire.

"He actually couldn't enter the Sacred Realm on his own by just walking into the Temple. There were many magical locks and failsafes in place. In order to unlock those locks so you can enter the Realm, you need three Spiritual Stones, the Master Sword, and this." Link then got out the blue ocarina he had used earlier. "This is the Ocarina of Time. Those stones and this are necessary to open a stone door called the Door of Time, inside the Temple."

"How do you know all of this?" InuYasha asked him.

"Because I was the one who opened the Door seven years ago. This is the first time I've seen Hyrule in seven years." Link then confessed.

"WHAT? Where have you been for all that time? No wonder things got so bad here." Sango then said.

"Locked in the Sacred Realm, in a dormant state, that's where I've been. Ganondorf came to Hyrule seven years ago, and started hunting for the Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina. I had been on a quest to find those things before he could. After I had acquired them, I then entered the Temple and used them to open the Door to try and get to the Triforce so I could protect it from Ganondorf. That's also when I got the Master Sword." Link explained.

"And just where was that powerful sword at?" InuYasha asked curiously.

"Behind the Door of Time was a large chamber with the Master Sword stuck in a pedestal. Unfortunately, at that time, I was only ten years old." he stopped for moment when the others' jaws dropped to the ground in amazement. He continued. "When I pulled the Sword out, it was too big for me to wield. That's why I was locked up in the Sacred Realm, so I could finish growing. Unfortunately, the way was now wide open for Ganondorf to enter the Realm, and he obtained the Triforce. I had walked right into his trap. His plan all along had been to sit and wait for me to open the way to the Realm for him."

"It sounds to me like this guy does things the same way Naraku does." InuYasha commented.

"Who's he? The arch-nemesis of your world?" Link then asked.

"Yes he is. He's trying to get all of the shards of the Sacred Jewel so he can reassemble it and use it. He's caused a lot of pain and suffering while he's been at it though. InuYasha, Sango, and I are just three of the numerous victims of his schemes in finding them." Miroku then said.

"This Naraku however, even if he eventually completes that jewel, pales in comparison to what Ganondorf has done." Link then stated. Kagome by then had finished cooking their food. She of course had to show Link how to eat the noodles. "Where'd you get all of this stuff, and that pink, mechanical horse of yours? Your clothes are also some of the strangest I've ever seen. Are you a witch?" he then asked her in between bites.

"No, she's a Miko, a priestess, but she's still in training. She's not even from OUR own world. She comes from the far future." InuYasha said. Link raised an eyebrow at that.

"She's from the future? Of your world I'm guessing." he then said.

"Yes. Technology has advanced A LOT in her time. Most of the stuff in her time I can not comprehend."

"You've been there?"

"That's right. To come and get her when we need her. She has her own life to live too, you know. She's with us because she can detect the shards of the Sacred Jewel, and will be the protector of it once we get it reassembled." While InuYasha was speaking, Miroku had started to sneak his hand around Sango, looking for her breasts. He found them, and was promptly slapped by her.

"Would you knock it off with the grabbing, you letch." she said angrily at him.

"He always do stuff like that?" Link asked.

"Yes. And he's a monk too, if you can believe it."

"Hmph. I guess my left hook earlier wasn't enough. You must want a good kick between the legs huh?" Link said sternly to Miroku. A frightened look then came to Miroku's face, and he moved away from Sango.

Link then looked at Shippo. "Well, what's your story, tailed one?"

"My parents were killed by a pair of demon brothers called the 'Thunder Brothers'. InuYasha and Kagome rescued me and helped me avenge my parents' deaths. With me now an orphan, I've decided to stay with them until I can fend for myself." Shippo then explained. Link nodded in understanding. Miroku then yawned.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to hit the hay." he then said, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, let's get some sleep then, we're going to have a long day tomorrow." Link said as he started to lie down. They then worked out a watch schedule, and went to sleep, with Link keeping first shift on the watch.


	5. Race In The Underground Crypt Revised

The Green-cloathed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **IV**: _Race in the Underground Crypt_

Shippo was trembling in fear as they approached the path that led up to Kakariko Village. They had been travelling for most of the day, and Death Mountain and its ominous ring of fire loomed overhead as they started up the path. When they entered the village, Link immediately saw that it was here most of the populace of Hyrule Castle Town Market had fled to when Ganondorf had took over. There was a lot more people in the village then there had been when he had visited as a child seven years ago. InuYasha and the others noticed that all the people in the village had the same long, pointed ears that Link did.

"Link, are you sure it's safe to be here? That mountain is scaring me." Shippo said in a frightened voice, pointing up at Death Mountain, still visible above. He had started sticking close to InuYasha, holding on to his haori tightly.

"We have no choice. We can't leave here until I've gotten the item I need." he replied.

"I feel so sorry for these people, having to wake up everyday with that mountain's ominous looks." Kagome said.

"They've probably gotten used to it a little, but not much. Most of these people used to inhabit the town those ruins used to be, before Ganondorf took over and wrecked the place." Link then said. Link then started asking around the village about the latest gossip, while the others started to mill around. InuYasha started to approach one house to leap up on the roof when the door opened and a large, plump woman came out and saw him.

"Ooh! You're new here. We've never seen one of your race around here. What are you?" she said, walking up to him. InuYasha started to back away from her, thinking she was tyring to trick him. "Now don't be afraid. It's very rare that we get visitors in these parts nowadays. I'm just curious." she then said.

"Are you saying you're not afraid of me? Usually humans either run from me or try to kill me. Not that I was gonna do anything, it's just the humans I've met, save for my companions, don't like seeing creatures like me." InuYasha then asked, serious doubt in his voice. The woman was aghast.

"Now what are you talking about? And by the way, we're called Hylians. Anyway, behavior like that is looked down upon by most of the people here." Now it was InuYasha's turn to be shocked. The woman continued. "The other races of this world, the Gorons, the Zoras and even some of the Gerudo are quite helpful. We've had Gorons come down from Death Mountain in the past, before Ganondorf came. And I used to see the Zoras all the time when I used to take trips to Lake Hylia. You're a newcomer. You seeking refuge from Ganondorf's forces too?" InuYasha was still a little skeptical, and the woman saw it. "You don't have to answer then. You must be from somewhere where the various races don't get along with each other. Let me assure you that that is not the case here in Hyrule. We used to not get along, and fight, but the King of Hyrule showed us how beneficial cooperation and friendship can be. Come on inside and have something to eat, you're probably hungry from your journey." She then led InuYasha into the house. In the corner was bearded man who snoring rather loudly, annoying InuYasha some.

Kagome meanwhile, had started to look around for a fletching shop or something similar so she could buy herself some more arrows. After wandering around the village for a while, she found the Bazaar, or store. Inside was what she needed.

"How much for 30 arrows?" she asked.

"60 rupees." the manager replied, puzzled at seeing a girl with such strange clothes as Kagome's school uniform. _'Oops, I forgot this was another dimension!' _Kagome suddenly thought. Still she decided to give it a try, and got out some yen from her own time.

"How about this?" she asked, holding the paper money out to him. The manager's face then got red with anger.

"You have no rupees! Then be out of here then! What you offer is worthless!" he said to her sternly. Kagome then gave up at that, then left to find Link. She found him talking to an old man and walked up to him.

"... his house stood where the well is." The old man was finishing.

"Thanks." Link said, then turning when he saw Kagome. "What is it?"

"May I borrow 60...er, what did the store manager call them?" she wondered.

"Rupees? You want to borrow 60 rupees? Sure. You don't even have to pay me back. What do you need it for?" Link replied.

"I want to buy some more arrows. They won't take my futuristic money." She then showed Link her yen. The familiar look of puzzlement she'd seen before returned to his face.

"How can pieces of paper have any value?" he asked. "Never mind, don't bother trying to explain it to me, I don't wanna know. Anyway, here." Link then pulled a wallet-sized pouch out of his pocket and opened it. He pulled out three red gems, and handed them to her.

"What are these?" she asked, looking at the gems.

"That's what we use as money in this land. They're called rupees. That should be enough to buy 30 arrows."

"Hmm." Kagome said as she went to buy her arrows. Sango, Shippo and Miroku had went into the same house as InuYasha had, and found him eating in there.

"You guys aren't gonna believe this, but that woman over there _wanted_ me to come in here and have a bite." InuYasha said to them as they entered. That stopped them. The plump lady noticed.

"I take it from your reaction you're all from the same land as he is, and the various peoples don't get along? And who's the cute tailed one?" she then asked.

"Yes, you could sort of say that." Miroku then said. "Where we're from, humans are very afraid those of his heritage. InuYasha is his name. He's considered an outcast, that's why he travels with us." Miroku then said. InuYasha growled at him.

"My name's Shippo! I'm a kitsune, or fox! What's your name?" Shippo then asked happily.

"You're so cute looking! My name is Rhape. What is InuYasha called exactly? I asked him, but he wouldn't tell me. I'd just like to know." the plump woman, Rhape, then asked, and Sango answered.

"He's inu-hanyou, or half-dog demon. Shippo's a kitsune, or fox demon. Youkai or demons are what almost all the non-humans are called in the land we're from." Sango said. InuYasha continued to growl, a little louder this time. Rhape shook her head.

"Such a derogatory thing to call the other creatures. The people of your land need to learn a few things about tolerance. We really frown upon behavior like that here in Hyrule because that kind of behavior almost caused us to wipe ourselves out. So he's half-dog creature huh? I don't see why others would hate him, he's so adorable looking." Rhape then said.

"OK, you can shut up about that." InuYasha then said, gritting his teeth some. Miroku intervened.

"Please excuse his manners too. Understand that he's lived a hard life and is not very trusting of people." he said.

"Oh that's alright. I actually pity him a whole lot." Rhape replied, then went back to cooking. Her last words stuck with InuYasha some as he continued to eat, and Sango changed the subject.

"You people have adapted well to these conditions you're having to live in." Sango commented as they sat down.

"We've had no choice but to. All we can do is wait and hope things turn for the better, and that Death Mountain doesn't suddenly decide to blow it's top." Rhape said as she brought them some food. "I'm sure you are all tired from traveling here."

"Who's the bearded man who's snoring so loudly?" InuYasha asked in between bites of the steak he was eating.

"His name's Talon. He used to be in charge of Lon Lon Ranch, but his assistant threw him out. I don't see how he stays so carefree during these times."

"Well, whenever he wakes up, he can go back to his ranch. That's where we've just been. We just gave that Mr. Ingo what was coming to him." Shippo then said casually. Moments later, the door opened, and Link and Kagome walked in. InuYasha raised an eyebrow at Link, who was carrying a strange, munchkin-sized chicken.

"What's with the tiny chicken?" InuYasha then asked.

"You're about to find out." Link replied, then walked over to Talon, still sleeping. When Link got close to him with the small chicken, the chicken crowed and woke Talon up! Talon sat up, shaking his head.

"What in tarnation? Can't a person get any shut-eye around here?" he then asked.

"Why sleep? I've got good news for you. You can go back to your ranch." Link told him.

"What? How? I thought Ingo was-"

"Not anymore. I've put him in his place. I didn't kill him, just gave him a humiliating experience he won't soon forget." Link said, cutting him off.

"You save Malon too?" Talon then asked.

"Yes. In case you're wondering, I'm the green-clad forest boy that stopped by seven years ago. My name is Link."

"Link, I don't know how to thank you for this." Suddenly, his face lit up. "I know! You can marry Malon!" Talon then said. A look of shock came to Link's face at those words. Meanwhile, a huge grin had come to Miroku's. An angry look from Sango quickly drove it away though.

"Surely you don't mean now, do you?" Link then asked Talon, flabbergasted.

"Why not?" replied Talon.

"Look, I'd like to, but now is just not the time." Link pleaded. "The world is too dangerous, and I've got...things...to do." Miroku then decided to give Link a hand, and got up.

"He speaks the truth, he's too busy, and now is not the time for him to take a wife." Miroku then said to Talon. He then motioned for Link and the others to follow him outside. "Well Link, what have you found out? Have you any idea where that artifact is that you need?"

"I believe I'm going to have to head to the graveyard." he replied.

"The graveyard? Don't tell me you're going to have to dig up somebody to get that treasure you need." Sango then said with a serious look on her face.

"I might just might have to do that." Link then started for the village's graveyard after returning the tiny chicken to the lady who had loaned it to him. The others meanwhile went back into Rhape's house to finish their meal.

"He better not take long. I hate waiting." InuYasha said as he finished his steak.

"We can't just leave. He's the only one that can actually kill Ganondorf, and we've got to help him any way we can if we're ever going to get back to our own world." Kagome reminded him.

"Feh. We should've stayed away from that damn log in the first place." InuYasha said as he got up and went outside.

-

Link entered the graveyard, tense and ready for anything. He saw the same hut that the gravekeeper had used when he had visited seven years ago to enter the Royal Tomb. He went inside the hut, and found a diary lying on a table beside a bed. He walked up and read it. It read:

_Whoever reads this, please enter my grave. I will let you have my stretching, shrinking keepsake. I'm waiting for you. –Dampe'._

'_Just as I thought. I've got to enter the grave of the gravekeeper, Dampe', and see just what kind of treasure he has.'_ Link thought as he exited the hut and began to check around the graveyard, looking for the grave that he had to enter. The place looked virtually the same as it did seven years ago, except for one thing that caught Link's eye. He noticed a new gravestone in an out-of-the-way corner and examined it. On it were the words he had been looking for:

_Here lies Dampe', former gravekeeper of Kakariko Village's Graveyard._

"Sorry old man, but this is what you wanted." Link said as he got behind the gravestone, grabbed hold of it, and began to pull it. He pulled it back a few feet, revealing an ominous looking hole. Clenching his teeth, he jumped into it. He fell about 10 feet before landing with a grunt, then looked around. He was in a dark chamber, a shaft of light shining in from the hole above. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the blackness, but when it did, he noticed a strange looking ghost floating in the chamber, in front of a large opening in a wall. The ghost looked like a ragged old man, and wore brown clothes. A white halo was hovering above its head. Link recognized the ghost as Dampe'.

"Hello young man! Are you fast on your feet?" the ghost asked.

"Yes. I believe I am, why?" Link replied.

"I'd like to challenge you to a race. Follow me if you dare!" With that, the ghost then began to float through the opening. Link began to run, accepting the ghost's challenge. The ghost proceeded to float through a myriad series of winding corridors, occasionally throwing a fireball at Link, trying to slow him down! Link easily dodged the fireballs, but was having to sprint constantly to keep up with the fleeting ghost.

'_He sure knows his way around here.'_ Link thought as the ghost went through a doorway. As soon as it was through it, ticking noises began to emanate from the doorway. _'Oh, great. Timed doors. Just what I need.'_ Link put on a burst of speed and was through the doorway seconds before it closed. The ghost continued to lead him through more corridors, up and down various stairwells and even over a few ledges, and through more timed doors. Link was panting heavily, the sweat rolling freely down his face. The ghost rounded a corner, and Link followed. As he rounded the same corner, a look of horror came to his face as he almost stepped into a chasm!

He gasped as he pulled to a stop, just inches from the edge and struggled to keep from falling in. After he steadied himself, he looked and saw a curved ramp leading up to another timed doorway, the ghost just starting to enter it. Link then gritted his teeth, drawing up every last bit of speed he still had in him, and took off as fast as he could up the ramp, the ticking having started from the doorway. As he neared it, the ticking quickened. _'Oh no, am I not going to make it? Don't think thoughts like that! YOU CAN DO IT!'_ Link's mind raced. He put on another bust of speed and dove through the doorway screaming, just as it was starting to close! He landed hard on the floor on the other side, and groaned. Getting up, he shook his head to clear the cobwebs and scanned around. The ghost was now floating above a large treasure chest.

"Well done, young man! I was expecting you would be able to pass my challenge. Come and open the chest. My treasure is inside." the ghost said. Link then walked up and opened the chest. He raised an eyebrow when he saw what was inside. He lifted out a strange looking, spring-loaded device with two handles on one end, and what looked like an arrowhead on the other.

"What is this thing?" he asked the ghost.

"It's called the Hookshot. It's a spring-loaded chain with a grapple on the end of the chain. You aim it at any surface the head can dig into, pull on that handle there, and the head launches out at whatever you were aiming at. If it digs in, it will then proceed to pull you toward whatever it dug into, or vice versa. It can also be used as a weapon." The ghost then pointed out the parts of it to him.

"OK then. Now how do I get out of here?" Link then asked.

"Through that doorway." the ghost pointed, then continued. "Feel free to return here anytime if you wish to race me again. I'll give you something else that'll be helpful." The ghost then faded out of existence, and Link then started making his way out of the ghost's crypt-maze.

-

InuYasha was sitting on top of the house, gazing up at Death Mountain. It was dusk. _'I've got the feeling we're going up there before this is over.'_ he thought, and shook his head in disgust. _'Great. If that thing decides to erupt while we're climbing it, us and this whole damn village will be history, and there'd be nothing we could do about it.'_ His ears then pricked up as he heard the sound of a door open and close to his right. He turned and looked, and was surprised to see Link emerge from the village's windmill. _'What the hell? How'd he get there? I thought he went to the graveyard.'_ He then saw Link look up and begin walking toward the building he was sitting on the roof of.

"Well, what are you doing?" Link asked up at him.

"Are we going to have to go up that damn mountain at some point?" InuYasha then asked, pointing.

"We will eventually. That is not how Death Mountain is supposed to look. But we're not going to scale it now. Come on down. I've got what we came here for."

InuYasha jumped down onto the ground and followed him inside. The others looked up at their entrance.

"You're back! Well, did you get it?" Kagome asked.

"It's about time too. Now just what is this thing that we had to come all the way here for?" InuYasha asked impatiently.

"This." Link said, getting out his new Hookshot. Everybody looked puzzled.

"What is that contraption?" Kagome asked.

"It's a spring-loaded grappling hook. You aim, shoot, and it pulls you toward whatever you aimed at. It won't work on hard surfaces though. Here I'll demonstrate." Link explained. He then pointed the Hookshot at a wooden beam in the ceiling, and fired it. The head of it flew up and dug into the beam, and Link was then pulled up off the floor toward the ceiling as the chain reeled itself in. When it finished reeling in, the head released itself from the beam and Link fell back to the floor. He used his legs to cushion the impact, and got back up. InuYasha and the others were amazed.

"Wow! Can I try it, please, please, please?" Shippo then begged.

"I'm afraid you lack the strength to work it. Sorry." Link replied with an empathetic look. Shippo then crossed his arms, looking dejected.

"That's pretty neat, though I don't need anything like that. I can just jump up to high places." InuYasha then said.

"Is something blocking the way into the Temple? Is that why you need it?" Sango then asked.

"I guess so, otherwise I probably would not have had to get it. We start for Kokiri Forest, and the Lost Woods in the morning." Link then said.

"Kokiri Forest is where we wound up when we were first drawn into this world." Miroku stated.

"You've already been there? Tell me about how it was." Link then said, in an anxious voice.

"The place was crawling with monsters, we had to fight our way out of it." Sango said.

"What? How bad?"

"Not too bad. Sango and I were able to slaughter them pretty easily. They were more of a nuisance than anything else." InuYasha then said.

"That's a relief. Anyway, we start out tomorrow morning." Link then said. They then settled down for the night in the village.


	6. InuYasha vs The Forest Giants Revised

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **V**: _InuYasha vs. the Forest Giants_

"So you grew up in Kokiri Forest huh?" Kagome asked.

They had stopped for a moment during their trek to Kokiri Forest so Sango could briefly head off into the brushes and change clothes. To pass the time, they had been talking some more about each other's past.

"That's right, and ever since I left the Temple of Time I've been itching to see what my friends look like after all these years." Link replied.

"Well, I hate to break it to you like this, but they're all still kids." said InuYasha haphazardly. He was sitting on the ground in his dog-like stance, bored. Link fell off of Epona at that. He got back up and ran over to InuYasha, and looked him in the face with a stern look.

"What did you just say?" He then asked.

"Are you deaf? I just said that they were still kids. Hey wait! If you grew up there, and they're still kids…why..." InuYasha's voice trailed off as his face broke into a look of utter surprise. Shippo started to giggle some, thinking a fight was about to break out between InuYasha and their new friend. Before either Link or InuYasha could say anything, Sango emerged from the brushes nearby, wearing her black-leather battle-suit. Miroku was behind her, his cheek red from a large handprint. Sango had slapped him particularly hard for trying to peep in on her as she changed.

"I'm ready, now let's get going." she then said, then noticed what was going on between InuYasha and Link. "InuYasha, did you get on his bad side or something?"

"I don't know. Feh, the heck with it. Come on." InuYasha said as he then got up. Link climbed back on Epona and decided to put this new revelation out of his mind for the moment, and they continued toward the tunnel. Something new, however, popped into Link's head, and he stopped and then asked them all a serious question.

"Did any of you see among the Kokiri a girl with green hair? Her name is Saria."

"No, we didn't. They did mention her by name, though." replied Miroku.

"Oh, no. Hold on a second, then." Link then got out the Ocarina of Time and played a new tune on it the rest of them had never heard before. After Link played the tune, he muttered, "Saria, can you hear me? It's Link!"

'_Link! I knew I would hear from you again! Where have you been all these years?' _Link heard a girl's voice inside his head say.

'_Saria, its a long story that I don't have time for. Where are you? I've been worried about you.'_

'_Help me, Link! I'm in the Forest Temple! The forest spirits started calling for help, and I went to check it out, but it's full of evil monsters!'_

'_I'll be right there! Just hang on!'_ Link then put the Ocarina away, and said a prayer to Nayru, Hyrule's goddess of wisdom, to protect Saria until him and the others could reach her.

"What was that about?" InuYasha then asked him.

"Saria's in trouble. She was the one who befriended me the most when I lived in Kokiri Forest. We've got to help her, and she's in the Forest Temple." Link said in a determined voice. He then urged Epona on and started for the log-tunnel.

"Hey, wait up!" InuYasha shouted. Link dismounted from Epona and dashed into the tunnel, the others following behind him. They went through the log-tunnel and were back in Kokiri Forest. "Heads up Link! This place is crawling with monsters!" InuYasha reminded him as he drew Tetsusaiga. Sango had her boomerang ready as a plant monster reared up and lashed at her. The monster was easily cleaved in two by the boomerang as InuYasha diced up a leaf-monster.

'_Deku Babas and Scrubs, not much of a problem. These Babas are unusually large, however. That's strange.'_ Link thought as he hacked down a Baba, one of the plant monsters. Kagome meanwhile, had started taking aim and shooting Scrubs, the leaf-monsters. Miroku was using his staff to devastating effect on the Deku Babas. His prayer beads remained on his hand however, as his Wind Tunnel was not necessary for these weak monsters. Shippo was simply staying out of the way and avoiding the monsters, as his illusion magic was useless against them.

After several minutes of hacking, slashing, shooting, and bashing, the village was clear. Corpses of the monsters littered the ground everywhere. Link then went into a hut while the others waited.

"Who are you, mister?" one of the Kokiri inside asked. Link's face was utter shock. He recognized all of the Kokiri from his days as a young boy in the forest, and they no longer recognized them. The reality of what InuYasha said was starting to hit home.

'_I'm not a Kokiri. If I'm not one of them, then who am I?'_ Link suddenly thought. "Huh mister? Who are you? Huh, huh, huh?" another Kokiri asked, pulling Link from his thoughts. InuYasha then entered.

"He's with us." he then said.

"Ooh! Dog boy is back!" the same girl who had played with InuYasha's ears then said. Link decided right then it was time to get down to business before InuYasha acted without thinking and did something stupid, like kill an innocent Kokiri girl. He knew his questions about who he really was couldn't be answered by these Kokiri anyway.

"Where is the Forest Temple?" Link then asked.

"It's on the other side of the Lost Woods mister, in the Sacred Meadow. You all aren't thinking of going there are you?" the girl then asked.

"Somebody's got to go there. This Saria of yours needs help. More help than any of you could provide." InuYasha then said.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you. You may not come back out. Saria went there several days ago and hasn't come back."

"Feh. Come on, Link. Let's get this over with." InuYasha then said as he and Link left the hut and rejoined the others. "You know where this Sacred Meadow is?" InuYasha then asked Link.

"Yes, I do. Saria spent most of her time there, and showed it to me a few times. Follow me." Link then climbed up to the same ledge that InuYasha and the others had wound up on when they had first entered Hyrule. After Link entered the log-tunnel, the others hesitated for moment, unsure of whether they would be allowed in. "Are you guys coming? Or would you rather I do this myself?" they heard Link's voice from the log. InuYasha and the others clenched their teeth...and stepped through the log without problems! On the other side, they saw three more tunnels.

"Dammit! We have find our way through a damn maze." InuYasha said in a frustrated voice.

"Calm down, I know the way. Like I said before, just follow me." Link reassured him.

"You better know what you're doing. It was getting lost in another damn forest that got US here in the first place." InuYasha retorted.

Link led them a ways, but then they came upon another Kokiri boy who was blocking the path in front of them. Link recognized him as Mido, the leader of the Kokiri village.

"Outta the way! We need through!" InuYasha said to him.

"Halt, I cannot allow you to go any further. I promised Saria I wouldn't let anybody go beyond here. As for you," he replied, gesturing towards Link, "you may wear Kokirish clothing, but you can't fool me."

"This is a matter of life and death! You let us through now!" InuYasha protested. Link then raised a hand.

"Calm down, InuYasha, I got our credentials right here." he said. He then got out the Ocarina again and played the same tune he had played earlier. The Kokiri's face turned to shock as he heard the tune.

"That song! Saria plays that song all the time! You know Saria? She taught that song only to her closest friends!" he said, bewildered. He thought for a minute, then spoke. "OK, I trust you. Are these other people with you?"

"Yes, they are." Link said.

"OK, then they can go ahead too. Somehow, I don't know why, but when I see you, I remember...him." the boy then stepped out of the way. They then continued.

"Who was that little brat?" InuYasha asked Link.

"Mido, leader of the Kokiri. He befriended Saria too." he replied. Soon they came across the Sacred Forest Meadow. They all could see the entrance to a maze. Link stopped. They all heard the sounds of heavy footsteps. Link drew the Master Sword and his shield.

"Something's not right. What's making those footsteps? InuYasha, what are your senses telling you?" he then asked.

"Why not just go on in?" InuYasha asked.

"Because I want you to use your good dog hearing to tell me what we're up against." Link retorted.

"Feh. OK, I'll do it." InuYasha then reluctantly listened hard for a moment. "Whatever they are, there's 7 of them, all of 'em at least 8 to 9 feet tall. It's a safe bet they're patrolling the maze up ahead, if that's what this leads into. They're about to be dead anyway." he finally said, drawing Tetsusaiga and starting for the maze entrance as he said it.

"Wait, we don't know how strong or powerful 'they' are." Link cautioned.

"Don't InuYasha!" Kagome cried.

"Too late, I'm going in." InuYasha entered the maze and immediately heard a roar to his left. He looked just in time to see a large, dark skinned, 9 foot tall humanoid creature charge at him with a spear! InuYasha's lightning quick reflexes kicked in and he used his arm to knock the spear away as he brought Tetsusaiga down on the creature's head. The massive sword easily cleaved through the creature, and moments later, two halves of what were once the creature's body lay on the ground. Link, meanwhile, had followed him into the maze and joined him. Link led the way to the next hallway. InuYasha was about to circle the corner into it when Link grabbed his shoulder.

"What now?" InuYasha hissed at him.

"Why not get them from behind?" Link whispered as InuYasha got ready to do as he had done before.

"That's a coward's way of doing things, and I'm not a damn coward." was InuYasha's reply. Link was about to whisper something else when InuYasha turned the corner and went down the hallway. Another giant humanoid was waiting for him. This time unfortunately, InuYasha mistimed his block of the creature's spear and got caught in the chest by it! He grunted in pain and was pushed backwards by the creature into a pool at the end of the hall. However, being half-demon as well as because of his fire-rat haori, he shrugged off the blow, jumped back out and struck back. The large giant fell to the ground, its head and part of one of its shoulders separating from the rest of the body. InuYasha dispensed with a few more of the same creatures before they reached the end of the maze. Link went back to get the others.

"InuYasha, you're wounded!" Kagome gasped as they approached him. She had noticed the spot on his chest where he had been pierced by that one creature's spear.

"Don't worry about it. It's just a flesh wound." he said.

"What is that?" Sango then asked, looking down the hallway they were now standing in front of that was at the end of the maze. Everybody looked down it and saw a taller version of the same creatures that InuYasha had just killed. This time, however, the creature was standing about 15 feet tall, and was brandishing a giant club. Shippo gulped and hid behind InuYasha.

"Keh. It's the leader. Now things get fun." InuYasha then said. He readied Tetsusaiga and charged at the monster. It raised its club and started to bring it down, but InuYasha blocked it with the Tetsusaiga. However, the monster was extremely strong, and started to push InuYasha toward the ground! A battle of strength ensued as InuYasha tried to keep the monster from crushing him with his own sword. He grunted and groaned as the monster pushed down harder with his club. Kagome and the others watched in fear, Link with concern. Link was about to charge in and help, when InuYasha suddenly started to turn the tide.

"AAAAHHHH!" InuYasha screamed as he finally pushed the monster's club away from him with the Tetsusaiga. He jumped back away from the monster, then jumped straight at it. He slashed at its chest and it dropped to the ground with a thunderous crash in two pieces. "That'll teach ya! NOBODY tries to pin me down with my own sword! NOBODY!" InuYasha yelled. The others ran up to him. Link was intrigued by what he had just seen.

"I knew you were strong, but I didn't think you were THAT strong." he said to InuYasha.

"That thing pissed me off when it tried to pin me. I don't like being pinned." InuYasha replied. "Now where are we?" They looked around. They saw ahead a clearing with a hexagonal stone platform on the ground. Inscribed on it was a large painting of the familiar crest on Link's shield, the three golden triangles of the Triforce. Beyond it was the entrance to a large, pedimented temple, overgrown with weeds. The doorway was unfortunately off the ground, the remnants of a stairwell in front of it. A tree stood beside the destroyed stairwell, with a limb hanging over a platform leading into the temple. Link strolled around casually, taking in everything.

"This place sure brings back memories." he said.

"Why do you say that?" Miroku asked.

"It was here that Saria taught me that song I played to Mido back there. This is where she always hung out." he replied. He walked up to the destroyed stairwell. "Of course! Why didn't I remember this? No wonder I had to get the Hookshot. There's no stairs leading up to the entrance." Just then a figure dropped in from above. The figure was wearing a skin-tight, light blue combat suit. Wrappings covered the majority of their face. Link, surprised, ran over to the figure. Everybody else looked at the new stranger suspiciously, InuYasha keeping a hand near Tetsusaiga.

"Who is that?" InuYasha asked suspiciously.


	7. Into the Forest Temple

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **VI**: _Into the Forest Temple_

"Strange Link, you seem to have entourage with you. Who are they?" The new stranger asked Link. InuYasha had his hand on the Tetsusaiga's hilt, ready to draw it if the stranger tried anything. Link turned to the others.

"Calm down. This person isn't dangerous to us. This is Sheik. He was waiting for me in the Temple of Time when I returned from the Sacred Realm." Link then said. InuYasha was still suspicious as the others walked over. He was still eyeing Sheik over suspiciously, as Link introduced them to Sheik, and he told him why they were accompanying him.

"This is not good. The prophecy again came true, about a group of helpers coming to assist in Ganondorf's defeat, but it also means that Ganondorf must be more powerful than we first thought for the gods to have sent us help in this form." Sheik then surmised, looking at InuYasha and the gang. InuYasha was getting impatient.

"Well, enough with this talk. I wanna get in there and kill whatever it is we have to kill." he said, gesturing to the temple.

"Not just yet, silver-haired, dog-eared one. Alas, you will not be the one to accompany Link into the Forest Temple." Sheik then replied.

"What! I'm the most powerful of our group! Why can't I accompany him!"

"What are you saying?" Miroku then asked.

"I know far more than you think. The legends about the coming of the Allies state that only one of them may follow the Hero, Link, into each Temple at a time." Sheik then turned to Kagome. "The one carrying the bow, you Kagome, are who must accompany Link in the Forest Temple."

"Why me?" Kagome asked him.

"Your skills will be the most useful in it. Your bow will be needed inside the Temple." Sheik then motioned Link over to where Kagome was standing. "You two will face many dangers ahead in the Temple. Link, you must protect Kagome. Kagome, be ready to help Link at any time. Now, Link, I must teach you a song that will return you and your friends here safely should you need to leave and then return." He then got out a small harp. Link got out the Ocarina of Time. "This is the Minuet of Forest." He then played the tune twice, and Link followed along. When Link had finished, Sheik put the harp back up. "Link, I'll see you and your friends again." Sheik then backed away, and threw an object to the ground that went off like a flash-bang grenade. All of them shielded their eyes. When they looked up, Sheik was gone.

"I don't trust him, whomever he is. I say we just forget about what he said and let me accompany you, Link." InuYasha then said.

"I wouldn't advise that. It was Sheik who told me where the five temples are located, and about me having to get the Hookshot if I wanted to enter the Forest Temple. Kagome, are you ready?" Link then asked her.

"I think so." she replied.

"The rest of you stay here, and make sure nothing tries to enter the Temple after we've gone in." Link then said. He then got out the Hookshot and aimed at the tree limb above the platform. "Grab on Kagome." She put an arm around him, and Link fired the Hookshot. They were both pulled upwards onto the platform, Kagome shouting just a little bit from the suddenness of it. They then walked in through the entrance. InuYasha was growling and looking dejected as they entered.

"He better not try ANYTHING with Kagome while he's in there with her, nor let her get hurt in any way." he then said.

"I don't think he will. You know what he did when I tried to approach Malon and what he threatened to do if I didn't leave Sango alone. He definitely won't try anything." said Miroku.

"And seeing how he reflected your Wind Scar and how he was able to defeat you in that sword fight, I think her protection is in more than capable hands." Sango added.

"Feh." InuYasha sat down on the ground, his head hanging low. Shippo started to giggle some about Kagome going off with Link, but immediately stopped when InuYasha bopped him.

-

Link and Kagome entered the Temple and proceeded to walk down a hall. There were several monsters that Link had to kill but they weren't very dangerous. They opened a door and came upon a particularly large room, with four torches encircling a strange looking contraption in the center. When they tried to approach the contraption, four ghosts suddenly appeared, one above each of the torches. They took the flames from the torches and left the room. The strange looking contraption then sank into the floor.

"What was that about?" Kagome then asked.

"I think we need those torches lit, so we need to find and vanquish those ghosts." Link replied. "That contraption looked like an elevator, so something critically important must be on the floor below this one." They then went on across the room, and found the only door that wasn't chained, locked, or barred shut. Entering it, they found themselves in a circular room, and a large, skeleton warrior brandishing a crooked sword and circular shield dropped down!

"Kagome, stay back! It's a Stalfos, and they're extremely dangerous! Let me handle it!" Link shouted to her as he unsheathed the Master Sword and his shield and took up a fighting position. Kagome dashed over to the other side of the room, far away from Link and the Stalfos, as the Stalfos swung its sword at Link. He easily dodged, and counter struck at it. It had its guard up and blocked the attack. They both circled each other, watching for the slightest opportunity to attack. The Stalfos swung when Link tried to attack, and nipped him on the arm!

"Link!" Kagome screamed.

"It's alright! Just stay back!" Link shouted out as he swung back and got the Stalfos in the ribs. It jumped back, and started trying to get behind him. Link wasn't having any of this and countered. When the Stalfos took two swings at him that missed, Link stabbed at it. Things stayed this way for a few minutes, neither of them able to get an advantage. Then the Stalfos jumped at Link while slashing. Link jumped to the side, out of the way, then brought the Master Sword down in a devastating downward slash that shattered the Stalfos.

A small treasure chest then magically appeared in the center of the room. Inside it was a key. After leaving the circular room and re-entering the room with the torches and contraption, they explored it some more. They spent the next half-hour exploring, finding more keys in the process, and running across some strange puzzles that Link had to solve before they could move forward. They came across a large room with two floating skull monsters that Link dispatched without any effort. Kagome then noticed something strange about the door in the back of the room. Above the door was a diamond with an eye painted in it.

"Link, what's that?" she asked, pointing at the strange diamond.

"I recognize that. It's an eye switch, you shoot at it, and it changes, but don't shoot it at the moment. I wanna see what's behind first." Link then opened the door, and both his and Kagome's eyes bugged out.

The hallway behind the door was twisted up! The end of the hallway was twisted 90 degrees clockwise from the beginning of it! They both stood speechless for a minute or two, then Kagome shook her head.

"That's not possible! It's an illusion." She then said, then entered the hallway, expecting it to disappear instantly. Strangely, it didn't and as she walked along the floor, Link saw her stick to the floor as it gradually became the wall! "What? How can this be? I don't remember much from physics class, but I do know that this shouldn't be happening!"

"This is probably the Triforce's work." Link said, and then followed her, not the least bit fazed by the crazy hallway. The next room led to another room with a staircase leading down, and there were three paintings on the wall. One of the paintings was of one of the ghosts that they had seen when they first entered the temple. They suddenly heard a comical laugh and the ghost disappeared from the painting, and appeared in one of the others!

"What's going on?" Kagome asked after seeing the ghost's image vanish.

"That ghost is playing tricks on us." Link said as he then tried to walk up to the painting where the ghost had reappeared, but it disappeared again. "Kagome, try shooting at the painting it re-appeared in."

"Want me to augment my arrow with my magic?" she asked.

"No. Let's try a normal arrow first." Kagome then lined up her shot towards the painting, and fired a normal arrow. It easily hit its mark since the painting was large. The comical laugh returned and the painting burst into flames and burned away completely. The ghost reappeared in another one. "Again." Link ordered. She lined up and fired again. The painting burned away like the first one, leaving only one left. Link didn't have to tell Kagome to shoot a third time, and this time the ghost appeared and floated down the stairs into the room at the bottom, which strangely had a torch much like the ones they had seen in the first room of the temple.

Link followed the ghost, and Kagome stood back and watched, bow ready, as another battle ensued. The ghost first disappeared and tried to hit Link with the torch it carried, but Link kept his shield up until it reappeared. When it did, he jumped at it with a downward slash that hit home. He continued this method until he destroyed the ghost. The flame of the torch it had carried then appeared on the torch in the room.

"Link, could that lit torch mean the corresponding one in the first room is lit?" Kagome then asked.

"I think so. Come on." After opening the chest in the room and retrieving another key, they continued on. The next room was very similar to the earlier one where Link had fought the Stalfos. This time, two Stalfos dropped down, and one advanced toward Kagome!

"Link, one of 'em is coming after me!" she shouted as she ran from it, and it followed her around the room.

"One's on me too! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Link shouted back as he parried blows from the one attacking him. Kagome decided to try shooting the Stalfos, and readied an arrow. She stopped, turned, and stared down the Stalfos advancing toward her, bow ready. Believing she didn't have enough time to charge her arrow with her powers, she took aim, and fired. The arrow was aimed perfectly and made it past the skeleton's defenses, but instead of destroying it, the arrow only knocked it back and stunned it for a moment. Kagome resumed running as she got another arrow ready. By this time, Link had finished off his Stalfos and rushed over to help her.

"My arrows only stunned it!" Kagome shouted as Link started trading sword blows with the Stalfos. Link was mad now since one of these monsters had gone after Kagome, and he attacked the Stalfos with a ruthlessness he usually spared for stronger creatures. He finished it off in record time, and again another chest appeared in the room. Inside it were a bow and a set of arrows for Link!

"Neat. Now I can shoot too." Link said as he looked the bow over. It looked to be of far better quality than Kagome's, and was more fancy looking.

"Let me look at it for a sec." Kagome asked. Link handed it too her. To her utter surprise, she couldn't draw the bowstring on it back, no matter how hard she pulled and how loud she grunted!

"Figured that. It looks as if it was made for serious fighting. Yours looks as if it was made for just defending oneself, or for target practice." Link surmised, as he took his bow back from her.

"That's what I use it for mostly." she replied. They continued on. The found the next three ghosts over the next half-hour, and re-lit all the torches in the first room. The strange, elevator contraption had raised back into the room. There was only enough room on it for one person.

"I'll go down first and send it back up to you." Link said.

"OK, then." Kagome replied. Link then got on the tiny, rickety elevator and rode it down to the bottom of the temple. He sent it back up, and Kagome followed. The room they were now in led to a very large door with a huge lock and chain on it. Kagome was carrying a rather large, gold key that they had found in an ornate chest earlier. Link took the key from her and fitted it to the massive lock. It fit perfectly, and Link removed the huge lock and chain, and opened the door.

They were now in a large, six-walled room with paintings on each of the six walls. The paintings looked identical, strangely. The walls seemed to encircle an arena of some kind, with the crest of the Triforce in the center of the arena. On the outskirts of the arena was a low fence. Link and Kagome walked to the center of the arena and looked around.

"Where's Saria?" Link asked out loud.

"I think this room was simply meant to throw us off. There's nothing here, we might as well leave." Kagome said.

"Yeah, there is nothing here." Link agreed. They then started toward the room-and the arena's-exit when suddenly three spiked poles shot up from the floor, blocking the way out!

"What the..." Link started to say, when they both then heard the sounds of a horse standing behind them. They both turned around slowly, and gasped.

Behind them stood a large, black horse. On it was a brown skinned, red haired man in black armor. Link gasped a second time. He recognized the man on the horse as being Ganondorf!


	8. Link's Origins Revised

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Seven: _Link's Origins and the Master Sword's Unfathomable Power_

Both of them stared up at Ganondorf in disbelief. Link was in total shock, Kagome was wide eyed, surprised. Ganondorf grinned, then raised an arm toward his head…and took off his face! A scary looking skull was left where his head had been. Link's face turned from one of shock to one of narrow eyed intensity.

"A trick. Should've figured that." Link said unemotionally. Kagome's face now turned to shock. The horse and figure rose up off the ground, and magically rode into one of the pictures! "Kagome, stay back, and keep your bow ready if he tries to attack you. I'll handle this."

Link was now scanning each of the pictures, trying to decide which one this 'Phantom Ganon' would ride out of. He saw a glimpse of what looked like this enemy in one of them, and readied the Master Sword. However, just when it looked like it was about to jump out, the figure turned around and ran the other way! 'What the-' Link thought, but he never finished the thought. The next instant a bolt of energy hit him in the back! The real Phantom Ganon had come out of the picture behind him and threw down a ball of energy as he rode overhead, and into another picture. Link dropped to his knees in extreme pain.

"Link!" Kagome shouted, and tried to shoot Phantom Ganon as he entered another picture. Her shot wasn't even close.

"Crap!" Link muttered as he gritted his teeth and got back up, shaking off the pain he had felt. He started scanning again. He saw what looked like Phantom Ganon again, but ignored it, and this time looked for another picture like it. He found it, and readied. This time he got it right, and the real Phantom Ganon rode out. He tried to slash at Phantom Ganon and his horse, but he was too high up, and Link couldn't reach him. Link jumped sideways and avoided the new ball of energy Phantom Ganon threw down. He now knew which one was the real Phantom Ganon, and which one was the illusion.

"Kagome, start scanning the pictures, and be ready to shoot this enemy when he starts to exit a picture! Ignore a picture that has a shadowy looking version of him in it, and go for the one that has him brightly standing out! Use your spiritual arrows!" Link shouted to her.

"Got it!" she shouted back. She then moved to where Link was, in the center of the arena, and started watching the pictures closely. She found the right picture, and readied, charging up her sacred arrow. Just as Phantom Ganon started to come out, she let fly. The arrow landed, and the enemy screamed in pain before turning around in the picture and riding back. She repeated this two more times. The third time, Phantom Ganon was thrown from his horse, and didn't return to a picture. Instead, he started floating around the room.

"Alright Kagome, I'll take it from here." Link said. Kagome then stepped back. Link and Phantom Ganon eyed each other for moment, then Phantom Ganon charged up another ball and threw it at Link! Link was ready however, and, like he had done when InuYasha had tried to hit him with the Wind Scar, he used the Master Sword to reflect the ball of energy back at Phantom Ganon. Phantom Ganon however, reflected it back too, and a dangerous game of tennis developed between them, both of them reflecting the same ball of energy back and forth, the ball of energy picking up speed with each reflection! Moments later, Phantom Ganon mistimed his attempt to reflect it back, and got hit with his own attack. He dropped to the ground, stunned. Link then ran up and slashed and hacked away at him skillfully and madly. Phantom Ganon soon recovered though, and got back up. He threw another ball at Link, and the two then resumed their deadly tennis match. This time, Link mistimed once and got hit! Kagome screamed in fear at the sight, but was relieved when Link got back up. He was looking hurt, but not badly, and he sure wasn't acting like it. The Phantom Ganon again threw another ball, and Link reflected it back hard, swinging the Master Sword with everything he had, and this time Phantom Ganon was stunned again. Link ran up and, gritting his teeth, brought the Master Sword down in a mighty downslash that finished him off. Kagome then ran up to Link.

"You OK?" She asked him.

"I'll be sore for awhile, but I'll manage." He then sheathed the Master Sword and his shield. Just then they heard an evil voice that seemed to emanate from the air in the room.

"Not bad, you two." It echoed throughout the room. "It looks like you are gaining some skill. But you have defeated only my Phantom. When you fight the real me, it won't be so easy. That is, if you can even make it to me! Hahahaha!" The voice paused, then continued. "That ghost was nothing but a waste of time! I shall banish it to the gab between dimensions!" The dead Phantom Ganon then disappeared.

"Link, what was that voice?" Kagome then asked, a little fearful.

"That was Ganondorf himself, trying to psyche us out. It won't work however." he replied. In the meantime, a bright circle of light had formed in the center of the room, big enough for both Link and Kagome to stand in. They both walked over and stepped into it, and vanished.

_-_

When Kagome opened her eyes after closing them to shield them from the bright light, she immediately saw that her and Link were not in the Forest Temple anymore. They were instead now it seemed in a large, dark, blue room, with columns of light in different places. Her and Link were standing on a large, hexagonal platform with a Triforce crest on it. Along the perimeter of the platform were six pedestals, each one a different color and with a strange emblem on it. A green-haired Kokiri girl was standing on the green colored pedestal.

"Link where are we?" Kagome asked.

"You are in the Chamber of Sages, inside the Temple of Light in the Sacred Realm." the green-haired girl said.

"Saria! Where were you? We couldn't find you in the Temple!" Link said to her.

"I was trying to get here when that Phantom Ganon monster stopped me and trapped me. Thanks to you and this girl you have with you, I was able to finally awaken as the Sage of the Forest. Thank you. What is your name?" the girl, Saria, then asked Kagome.

"I am Kagome, and I guess one of the so-called Allies that are helping Link to defeat Ganondorf." Kagome replied.

"Well, the prophecy it seems came true, about the gods sending help. Are you the only one?" Saria then asked.

"No, she isn't. There's four others who are with her. They're waiting for us at the entrance to the Forest Temple. Saria, why have only I grown up? You and the others are still kids!" Link then asked her.

"I know it may be hard for you to accept at the moment, but it is destiny that you and I cannot live in the same world. I've already accepted it. Go see the Great Deku Tree Sprout, in the Deku Tree's Meadow, to find your answers. He'll explain everything. Now Link, I must give this to you." Saria replied, then raising her arms up. Out of the blackness above, a green medallion floated down. "This is the Forest Medallion, and contains my powers. I must remain here to help you seal Ganondorf here when the other Sages are awakened, but you can still use my song to talk to me." Link then took the Forest Medallion, and then he and Kagome vanished.

_-_

InuYasha and Shippo were arguing over why Kagome had to go with Link into the Temple and not him.

"He defeated you in that fight! That's why she had to go in there with him. He's obviously more powerful than you are!" Shippo said to InuYasha. That was the last straw for InuYasha. He growled meanly and grabbed Shippo by the tail. He was preparing to turn Shippo into a punching bag when a bright column of light appeared at the center of the hexagonal platform, and Link and Kagome descended from the sky and gently landed on it! Sango and Miroku were shocked out their wits at that sight.

"SIT, boy!" Kagome shouted, when she saw what InuYasha was about to do. InuYasha lost his grip on Shippo, and the kitsune jumped out of the way just in time when InuYasha slammed to the ground. He growled as Kagome and Link walked up to him. "Now, would you mind telling me what brought that on?" Kagome sternly asked InuYasha as he started to get up.

"They started arguing about why you had to go in there with Link, and not him." Miroku answered.

"She was needed in there. Her bow came in handy when we fought the monster inside." Link said. He then recounted their experiences in the Temple and in the Chamber of Sages. When he finished, InuYasha looked at the blue hilt of the Master Sword sticking out of its sheath on Link's back, a slight grin on his face.

"You weren't kidding then when you said that thing could reflect any kind of magical attack. That is a powerful sword." InuYasha then said, referring to Link's fight with Phantom Ganon.

"That's right, but the blasts that Phantom Ganon were sending at me were nothing compared to that attack you tried on me. What was it called again?" Link asked.

"The Wind Scar. It can slay up to 100 demons at once, if that many got grouped together tight enough." InuYasha replied. Link let out a low whistle at that.

"Well, I don't have any doubts now about the Master Sword's ability to reflect magic. Ganondorf may not have an attack that powerful, but he just might, and it's good to know now that the Master Sword can reflect an attack as strong as the Wind Scar." he then said.

"Link, Saria was one of these 'Sages'?" Miroku then asked.

"Yes, she was. When all of them are awakened, they will seal Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm after I've weakened him using the Master Sword." Link replied.

"Where we off to next?" Kagome then asked.

"Well, to get the next medallion, I think we now have to go up Death Mountain itself." Link replied. They all then heard a thump as Shippo hit the ground after fainting. An uneasy look came to the faces of InuYasha and the others.

"I knew we were going to have to go up that damn mountain at some point, I just knew it! Great, just great!" InuYasha said, and started to pace around.

"Hold on, hold on. Not just yet. There's some things I want to do first." Link then reassured them.

"Like what?" Sango then asked.

"First I want to get some answers as to why only I have grown up while the rest of the Kokiri haven't." Link said, making his way back to the Forest Meadow maze. The others followed him, InuYasha carrying the still unconscious Shippo by the tail. On the way out, they ran into Mido again.

"Hey, you. Mister." he said to Link when they approached him.

"Yes, Mido, what is it?" Link asked.

"Did you rescue Saria? Where is she?"

"Saria's safe, but she won't be coming back to Kokiri Forest just yet." Link said. He then took some to time to explain why she wouldn't be coming back.

"I see. But will she come back after Ganondorf's gone?" Mido then asked.

"I don't know. I really don't know." Link replied honestly.

"Hey, there's something I need you to do for me." Mido then said.

"What is it?" Link then asked.

"There used to be a boy who lived here named Link, and I accused him of killing the Great Deku Tree after it died. He ran off afterwards. He came back a few times, but the day after Ganondorf took over those seven years ago, he stopped coming back. He's probably dead by now, but in case you just happen to see him, would you tell him that Mido is sorry for treating him so badly?" Mido then said, a pleading look on his face. Link then smiled really big. "What's with the smile?"

"No need to find him. You just told him." Link said, grinning. Mido's eyes almost popped out of his head. He was completely agape.

"Y-Y-You m-m-mean, y-y-y-you're Link?" Mido then asked. Link nodded. The others were watching with keen interest. Mido continued. "But that can't be! You've grown up! Kokiri are never supposed to grow up! Is that what happens if we leave the forest, we start aging?" Mido then asked. Link shook his head.

"I wasn't a Kokiri to begin with. Saria told me so herself before I left the Chamber of Sages. She said that a new Deku Tree has begun to sprout in the Deku Tree Meadow and it would have the answers I seek. That's where we're going before we leave. You can join us if you like." Link then said.

"You bet I want to join you. My head's spinning wildly from all this." Mido then said, andfollowed on their way out of the Lost Woods. When they were out of the Lost Woods and back in Kokiri Forest, Link led the way to a large meadow where a massively giant, yet dead tree sat. The tree seemed to have a face.

"What the heck is that thing?" Sango asked.

"The Great Deku Tree." Link replied, then turning to Mido. "Now here's the real story of how the Deku Tree died, Mido. I went inside of it seven years ago to try and save it by destroying a monster inside. I did destroy the monster, but I was still too late, and it still died. I'm not sad though, because it told me before it died that it was doomed before I even entered, and wanted me to kill the monster just to test my skills and courage. It gave me the first of the three Spiritual Stones, the Kokiri's Emerald." Link said. Mido then frowned a little, but nodded in understanding. Link then walked up to the base of the dead Deku Tree, where a small stubby sprout was sticking up out of the ground. As he approached it, a small, young, fat looking tree suddenly sprung up out of the ground where the sprout was! Link jumped back for a moment. "Are you the Deku Tree Sprout?" Link then asked it.

"Yes, Hero of Time. Thanks to you, Saria, and Kagome, I can now grow since the evil has been removed from the Forest Temple. Did you come to ask me why only you have grown up, and not rest of the Kokiri?" the Sprout replied.

"Yes, and how do you know?" Link asked, surprised. The others, except for InuYasha, watched curiously. InuYasha instead laid down on the ground and looked up at the sky, bored and a little irritated. The Deku Tree Sprout then spoke:

"I have the same knowledge as the original Deku Tree. Anyway, you may have already guessed this, but you are not a Kokiri. You are actually a Hylian! The Kokiri never grow up!" It paused for moment to let that sink in to them. Link wasn't surprised that much, but the others were, including InuYasha, and especially Mido.

"If I'm a Hylian, then how did I wind up growing up here in this forest?" Link then asked, beating Mido to the draw. The Deku Tree Sprout smiled, then answered.

"I'm happy to finally be able to reveal this secret to you, now that you are old enough to understand it. Before the King of Hyrule unified this land, there was a fierce war in it. To escape from the fires of the war, a young Hylian mother entered this forbidden forest with her baby boy. The mother was gravely injured and would die soon, so she had no choice but to try and entrust the child to The Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Deku Tree accepted the child because it sensed the child to be a child of destiny, whose fate would have a monumental impact on the world. After the mother passed away, the child was raised as a Kokiri, and now finally the day of destiny has come." It finished.

"So I am that child?" Link then asked.

"Yes, you are. You now of course know what you must do. Are these strangers who are with you the ones who were prophesied would be sent by the gods to aid in bringing about Ganondorf's downfall?" The sprout then asked.

"Yes, we apparently are." Miroku then said, stepping up. He then introduced himself and the others to the sprout.

"Indeed then, Ganondorf is extremely powerful for the gods to have sent help in this form. All of you must not fail to awaken the other Sages, for only when all of them have been awakened will Ganondorf's defeat become possible. Go now, for I have now told you all that I can. Mido, the others have been wondering about Link too, so go ahead and tell them what you have just heard."

"Thank you very, very much for answering my questions. I have no doubts about myself or what I need to do now." Link said back at it as they began to leave.

"Thank you Deku Sprout for answering my questions as to why Link's not a Kokiri. The others will be ecstatic about this!" Mido then said. Link and the others started for the log-tunnel leading back to Hyrule Field. They went through it, and were back in Hyrule Field. Link got back on Epona, Kagome her bike, and Kiara made herself huge so Sango, Miroku and Shippo could get on her.

"We headed to Death Mountain now?" Miroku asked down at Link.

"No, not yet. I want to pay a visit to the Temple of Time, located in the ruins, and have another talk with Sheik, the one who met us outside of the Forest Temple." Link replied.

"What for?" Kagome asked.

"I want to see if he has anything else to tell me about the Sages." They then set off again for the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, where they had first met Link.

_-_

When they entered the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, they again saw the zombies roaming. InuYasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga.

"Go ahead and kill them if you want, just make sure you don't let them look directly at you, or you'll be paralyzed like you were before." Link advised him.

"Thanks for the heads up, like I didn't know that already." InuYasha said bluntly, before he jumped high into the air and started using the ruined buildings to easily get the jump on the zombies. They were hardly any trouble at all as they were still pitifully slow, and InuYasha felled them with a single swing of the Tetsusaiga for each of them. The zombies were being completely disintegrated by the Tetsusaiga. When InuYasha had finished with the zombies, they walked up to the cathedral-like building, the Temple of Time, and entered.

The inside of the Temple of Time was unlike anything InuYasha and the others had ever seen. White stone graced every corner of the Temple. The inside of the Temple looked like a traditional gothic, Catholic cathedral. In the middle of the room they were in, there was another large hexagonal platform like the one they saw in front of the Forest Temple. At the far end of it stood an altar with three glowing stones sitting upon it. One stone was green, the next one red, and the last one was blue. Behind the altar stood an open doorway leading down a long hall to a deeper inner chamber. Above the doorway, embedded in the wall was another crest of the Triforce, this one glowing with an ominous looking yellow aura.

Immediately upon entering the temple and seeing the altar and doorway, Miroku dropped to his knees and started praying.

"What are you doing?" InuYasha then asked him.

"This is a very sacred place. I'm paying my respects." he replied. He finished praying, and got back up. Sango meanwhile had walked up to the altar and started looking at the stones.

"Hey Link, are these stones those Spiritual Stones you talked about?" she asked.

"Yes. The green one is the Kokiri's Emerald, the red one the Goron's Ruby, and the blue one is the Zora's Sapphire. The doorway behind the altar was sealed by the Door of Time until I used the Stones and the Ocarina to open it." he replied. InuYasha meanwhile had been looking around casually, not paying much heed to the stones. He hadn't minded coming here because deep down he was a little uneasy about going up Death Mountain, but wasn't showing it. Shippo was glad to be here too, as he did not want to go up Death Mountain at all, and wished that he could stay here. Kagome and Sango were both looking around in awe. For Kagome, there weren't any buildings in Tokyo that looked like this, and she was taking in all that she could see with wonder. For Sango, she didn't know it was possible to build buildings like this.

"So, this Temple guards the entrance to the Sacred Realm?" Kagome then said.

"It did, before I pulled the Master Sword. It will again after Ganondorf has been defeated. Come, we must proceed on to the inner chamber." Link said, and started through the stone doorway and down the hall to the inner chamber. The others followed, except Miroku until after he said another prayer.

The inner chamber was a massive, octagonally shaped room with a very, very high arched ceiling. A single window stood high up in the farthest wall, allowing light to shine down onto what Kagome saw was a platform almost exactly like the one her and Link had stood on in the Chamber of Sages. This one was different however, in that where the other pedestals had been on the one in the Chamber, there were only carvings in this one. In the center of the Triforce crest of this one too was a small, rectangular pedestal. Sheik was standing beside this pedestal when they entered.

"Welcome to the Temple of Time." Sheik said to InuYasha and his friends. "Link, I can see that you and Kagome were successful in breaking the curse on the Forest Temple and awakening the Forest Sage. But in order to defeat Ganondorf, Link, you must become ever more powerful. Not only will you have to travel over mountains, and underwater, you will have to travel even through time itself!" Link, and everybody else's eyes bugged out at those words from Sheik.

"How am going to do that?" Link asked him, flabbergasted.

"That is simple. Simply place the Master Sword back into the Pedestal of Time." Sheik replied, pointing at the small pedestal. "By doing this, you and you alone will travel back in time seven years to your home time. The others cannot follow you." The others, especially Miroku, were very skeptical of this. Sheik spoke again. "Link, the time will come will you will need to return here quickly, so I teach you this song for when that time comes. This is the Prelude of Light, and will transport only you back here, since the others cannot follow you back into the past." Sheik then got out his harp again. Link followed suit with the Ocarina of Time. Sheik then taught the tune to him. "Link, as long as you hold the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword, you hold time itself in your hands. I'll see you all again." With that, Sheik threw another blinding magic device on the ground and vanished. When he was gone, Link walked up to the Pedestal of Time.

"What are you gonna to do? Try it out?" InuYasha asked.

"That's right. I just want to see what happens. I won't be gone long. Now stand back, all of you." Link replied. The others walked over to the entrance to the room, a safe distance from Link and the Pedestal. Link then unsheathed the Master Sword, and, gritting his teeth, he slid it into the Pedestal of Time. A loud whirring noise was then heard, the platform itself started to glow blue, and the Triforce crest on the platform began to glow a bright white. A wall of blue magic surrounded Link and the Pedestal of Time, and Link vanished! InuYasha and the others' jaws dropped to the floor!


	9. Up The Deadly Mountain of Fire Revised

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Author's Note: Sorry to butt into the story, but I need to point out something here for this chapter and every chapter hereafter that involves Link having to go back in time, and mark my words he will in upcoming chapters. Whenever the story is focusing on Link and he's in the past as a ten-year-old, I'm going to refer to him as 'Young Link'. When he's in the time that InuYasha and the others are in, as an adult, he'll be simply referred to as 'Link'. I'm doing this to keep from confusing you, the reader.

Chapter Eight: _Up The Deadly Mountain of Fire_

The wall of magic faded around Link, and he curiously found himself standing on the Pedestal of Time, the Master Sword stuck in it. He jumped down off the pedestal, grunting a little. He noticed his voice had gotten higher, and took a careful look at himself. Link was now only about four-feet tall, and looked like a little ten-year old boy! He had become younger! The Master Sword was now as large as he was. His clothes hadn't changed however.

_'Well, I'm back to looking like my old self, but am I back in the present, not the future?'_ he wondered. He turned around, and noticed InuYasha and the others were no where to be seen. _'Looks like Sheik was right. The others weren't sent back either. I hope this is a good sign.'_ Young Link then left the inner chamber and reentered the main room of the Temple of Time. The Spiritual Stones were still on the altar, just as he had left them when he first placed them there. He decided to head outside and see if Hyrule Castle Town was still there. If it looked the way he remembered it, and not as a bunch of ruins, that would be his confirmation that he had traveled back in time. He exited, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Hyrule Castle Town now looked like an ordinary, bustling town. There were people milling around shopping, and the buildings looked vibrant and normal.

_'I'm back in my own time. I'm not in the future anymore.'_ He thought, then sighed. _'I'd like to stay here, but I can't. I've got to save the future. All of these people in the future are counting on me. InuYasha and his friends are counting on me too. They can't go home until Ganondorf is dead or sealed up in the Sacred Realm, and they've got their own enemy to fight.'_ Young Link then turned and looked off at Death Mountain, still visible in the distance beyond. The ring-of-fire was nowhere to be seen around it. Instead, only a peaceful looking cloud surrounded the peak. _'Time to go back, and make Death Mountain look that way in the future.'_ Young Link thought, and he reentered the Temple of Time.

_-_

InuYasha was the first to recover from the shock of seeing Link vanish. He looked where Link had been standing and saw that the Master Sword was still there, now resting in the Pedestal of Time. He suddenly got very brave and walked up to it.

"Damn." InuYasha said as he looked at the sword in awe. "Is there anything that this sword can't do?" he asked.

"I think there is." Miroku said, walking up and standing beside InuYasha in front of the sword.

"What do you think it is, Miroku?" Sango asked.

"Link hasn't said anything about this sword having an offensive attack like the Tetsusaiga's Wind Scar. I'm speculating that this sword's magic is purely defensive in nature." he replied.

"I'm not so sure. Maybe he hasn't figured out how to unleash its full power yet, like I once was with the Tetsusaiga." InuYasha suggested, then continued. "Anyway, I wonder how this thing feels in my hands, if it's heavier or lighter than the Tetsusaiga. I'll place it back immediately." InuYasha then attempted to pull the Master Sword out of the Pedestal. As soon as he placed his hand on it however, he felt an intense burning from it, like he'd just placed his hand in a fire! "OWW!" InuYasha screamed and yanked his now smoking hand back, shouting expletives as he did it.

"InuYasha, what happened!" Kagome asked in a panicky voice.

"The damn thing burned my hand when I touched it!" InuYasha shouted as he blew on his hand frantically to try and cool it down. Shippo started giggling. "It ain't funny Shippo. You want me to put your hands on it too, then keep giggling." InuYasha then said at the kitsune. Shippo stopped immediately and looked at Kagome with a 'help me' look on his face.

"Hmm…" Miroku said, puzzled. He then reached over and placed a hand on the Master Sword too. His hand was not burned when he touched it. He placed both hands on it, and tried to pull it, but the sword wouldn't budge even the tiniest bit. "InuYasha, this sword has apparently a magical barrier on it like your Tetsusaiga that only allows certain people to touch it, non-demons in this case. For some reason though, it won't budge."

Suddenly, the Master Sword mysteriously lifted up out of the Pedestal on its own! The whirring noise started again, and the platform and Triforce crest began to glow once more!

"Wh-What's happening?" Shippo asked.

"InuYasha!" Kagome shouted.

"Miroku!" Sango also shouted.

InuYasha realized immediately what was happening. He grabbed Miroku and backflipped off the platform just as the mystical blue wall returned. A bright ball of light appeared inside of it, then grew and formed up into Link's shape, and Link reappeared, his hands on the Master Sword's hilt. The wall then disappeared, and the platform returned to normal. Link then sheathed the Master Sword and turned around, immediately noticing how InuYasha's hand looked burned.

"InuYasha, what did you try to do while I was gone?" Link then asked.

"I…uh…" InuYasha struggled for the right words to say.

"He tried to pull out the sword, but it burned his hand." Miroku then said. At this, Link shook his head, and sighed.

"Guess I should've warned you before I left. Evil ones and demons cannot touch the sword without it harming them. Did anybody else besides InuYasha try to pull it out? I'm just asking. None of you would've succeeded anyway." he then said.

"I did, but you're correct, I couldn't pull it." said Miroku.

"Only the person worthy of the title 'Hero of Time' can pull it out, and that's me. I'm the only one who can pull it, and use it." said Link.

"Well, was Sheik right, did you actually travel back in time?" Sango then asked.

"Yes, I did go back in time. I went back to when I first pulled the Sword. I went outside the Temple to see if there was actually a town out there instead of ruins. There was. That was all the proof I needed. However, I also returned to being a ten-year-old." Link replied.

"So you returned to the time before Ganondorf got the Triforce? Before all the havoc occurred?" Miroku then asked.

"Yes."

"Link, where we headed now?" Kagome then asked.

"I hate to have to tell all of you this but we can't avoid it any longer. It's time to scale Death Mountain." he replied. Shippo fainted again, and the others just let out big sighs.

"Well, we might as well get it over with." InuYasha finally said grudgingly.

_-_

Everybody stood at the entrance to the trail leading up Death Mountain, located on the outskirts of Kakariko Village. Before them were the remains of a gate and gatehouse that seven years ago had barred entrance to the trail. During that time, royal permission had been needed to scale Death Mountain for safety reasons, as Death Mountain had been, and still was, an active volcano.

During the trek back to Kakariko Village, Link had informed InuYasha and company that this was not the first time he had gone up Death Mountain. He had had to scale it seven years ago as a kid in order to get one of the Spiritual Stones. Getting a royal decree to climb it hadn't been that hard fortunately. At that time however, the ring-of-fire had not encompassed the peak, and the climb had been much safer.

They had previously stopped in Kakariko Village and Lon Lon Ranch and stocked up on supplies. Kagome had gotten more arrows, and eaten with the others (all of them except Link thought it might be their last meal). Link had bought a pair of saddlebags for Epona at Lon Lon Ranch and put his new bow in one of them, as he figured he wasn't going to need it for this climb. Both Epona and Kagome's bike were left in Kakariko Village, as they would've been too cumbersome for the trail. Kagome was carrying her backpack however. Link had taken his Hookshot, and he had also bought and filled the three bottles he carried with a red-colored medicine that he said would instantly heal all of one's wounds and completely restore their strength when it was drunk. That statement had made everyone but InuYasha's eyes almost pop out of their heads. Another thing Link had bought, strangely, was a bag full of explosives similar to what the others had seen used during fireworks displays in their own world.

"Be on your guard, all of you. Ganondorf has apparently messed things up real bad on this mountain. Normally, there should be a peaceful looking ring of clouds around the peak, not a fire ring. Let's go." Link warned. They then started up the trail. Boulders dotted the path that hadn't been there when Link had visited seven years ago. As they turned a corner, they looked and saw a massive boulder fall off a ledge and begin rolling at them!

"Oh, no! Look!" Shippo shouted, pointing. Kagome and Shippo jumped onto InuYasha's back and he prepared to jump out of the way, while Kiara transformed and Sango and Miroku quickly climbed onto her. Link crouched, ready to roll out of the boulder's path. They all skillfully dodged the boulder, and continued up. They encountered more boulders as they went and dodged them as well. They also encountered a few spider monsters that Link took care of.

"Those rolling boulders here the first time you were here?" InuYasha asked Link.

"No they weren't. The spiders were." They continued up until they came to a fork in the path. No boulders were falling down in this part of it.

"Well, which way? Left or right?" Sango asked.

"The left leads up to the summit. To go that way I believe would mean certain death. The right leads to Goron Village, the home of the race of stone-eating people who live on this mountain. I think that's where we need to go. I've got an idea of who I think the next Sage is." Link said.

"Yeah, go on. Who do you think he is?" InuYasha asked.

"His name is Darunia, the leader of Goron Village. I cleared out a monster-infested cave for him seven years ago in exchange for the second Goron's Ruby." The others stared at him for a moment in amazement.

"How did you do all this stuff you did as a child?" Miroku asked him.

"Courage, lots and lots of it. That and brains, but mostly courage. I've always had plenty of that. That's why I wasn't fazed or frightened one bit when Kagome and I ran into Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple. For some reason though, ever since I first walked out of the Temple of Time as an adult, I strangely feel like I've got a limitless amount of it." Link replied.

"Well, whatever. Let's go find this Darunia and see what he needs now." InuYasha said as he started down the path on the right. The others followed him and Link took the lead again. Soon, they came upon the entrance to a cave with a banner over it and entered.

They were now standing in a gigantic cavern with many levels, with them standing at the top level. Cave paintings and torches dotted the walls, and there was a platform suspended by ropes in the exact center of the cavern. Everybody except Link looked around in wonder. Link, however, felt that something wasn't right.

"What a cave. Never seen anything like this in our world." InuYasha commented.

"Something's wrong. Very, very wrong." Link said.

"What is it?" asked Kagome.

"Where are the Gorons? I don't see any." he replied.

"What's that down there?" Shippo then said, pointing. He was pointing at what appeared to be a rock rolling around on the level below them. The rock seemed to rolling on its own, since the floor was totally flat in that area.

"That's a Goron. He's rolling around, that's how they go from place to place. However, he looks to be the only one here. This whole place should be crawling with them. I've got a feeling something bad has happened here. Come on, we need to talk to him." Link said. They then followed Link down a few stairwells until they got to the area where the sole Goron was rolling around. They tried to approach the Goron, but when they did, it turned around and rolled away from them.

"Hey wait! We want to talk to you!" Kagome shouted.

"I'll never talk to the likes of you! You're probably working for Ganondorf too!" it shouted as it rolled away from them.

"Hmph. I'll stop him." said InuYasha.

"How? With your bare hands?" asked Link.

"Yeah."

"That won't work at all. I'm warning you. Don't try it."

"What do you know?" InuYasha snapped back, and waited for the Goron to roll back around to where they were. When it approached, InuYasha prepared himself and then jumped in front of it with his arms outstretched in front to try and catch the Goron. BAM! Instead, InuYasha was utterly run over and sent flying. He slammed into a wall and slumped to the floor, dazed and seeing stars. His body left an impression on the wall where he had hit. The Goron continued rolling as if nothing had happened. Link closed his eyes and shook his head while Kagome ran over to see if InuYasha had been hurt.

"I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen." Link then said.

"What else is new?" Sango said as she watched Kagome help InuYasha to his feet. Link, meanwhile, had gotten out his bag of explosives and pulled a black ball with a fuse and a small tinbox out of it. Sango, Miroku and Shippo stared at them curiously.

"What are those?" Shippo asked.

"What are you doing?" Miroku asked.

"Stopping him. Don't worry, this thing won't hurt him, he's impervious to it." Link replied. He watched the Goron carefully and when the Goron was a certain distance away, he used the tinbox to light the ball's fuse. He waited a few more seconds, then threw the ball at the Goron like a grenade. The ball bomb went off with a BOOM and stopped the Goron in its tracks.

"How-how could you do this to me? You, you're Ganondorf's servant!" The Goron than said, still balled up. It continued. "Hear my name and tremble! I am Link! Hero of the Gorons!" At those words, a confused look came to everyone's faces. Even InuYasha walked over looking confused. The Goron then got up. It was dark skinned and pretty chubby. Its head was pretty big too. When it saw Link's clothes, a confused look came to its face as well. "Wait, you don't look like a follower of Ganondorf. Who are you?" the Goron asked at Link.

"I have the same name as you. I am also Link." Link replied. A bright look then came to the Goron's face.

"It's you! It really is! You in the flesh! The great Dodongo Buster and hero, Link!" Link and the others all raised their eyebrows at the Goron. He continued: "I'm the son of Darunia. Do you remember him?" Link nodded, and started to say something, but the Goron interrupted him. "Dad named me after you because you're so brave. It's a cool name, and I like it. You're a hero to us Gorons. Can I have your autograph?" A look of shock came to everybody's faces, and Shippo began to laugh. InuYasha had now had enough of this and stepped in between Link and the Goron abruptly.

"Hello! Excuse me! Isn't there a bigger thing to worry about than getting his autograph? Like telling us where the rest of your friends and Darunia are?" InuYasha then said to the Goron sternly, tapping him on the head with his fist.

"Who are you? Wait a minute, you look like a servant of Ganondorf!" the Goron the said abruptly.

"Don't worry. Him and others are with me." Link then introduced InuYasha and his friends to the Goron. "Now, like InuYasha said. What happened to the others? Where's Darunia?" Link then asked.

"Dad went to the Fire Temple. There's a dragon inside!" the Goron replied.

"A dragon?" InuYasha and the others said in unison.

"Yes, a dragon. You've got to save him! If you don't, even he will be eaten by it!"

"Tell us more about this dragon." Miroku asked the Goron.

"A long time ago, there was an evil dragon named Volvagia that lived in this mountain. He was very scary, and ate Gorons! The Goron hero at that time however, used a huge hammer and… BOOOOMMM! Destroyed it just like that! This is a myth that's actually true! I know, because my dad, Darunia, is a descendant of the hero."

"What about your friends? What happened to them?" Link then asked.

"Ganondorf's followers came while Darunia was away and took them all to the Fire Temple to be fed to Volvagia! Dad said that Ganondorf was the one responsible for bringing Volvagia back to life."

"That's terrible and utterly cruel! Why would he do such a thing? Why would he want to feed the Gorons to Volvagia?" Kagome then asked.

"Dad said he's doing it as a warning to other races who might try to oppose him. Dad meanwhile went to the Fire Temple alone to try and save everyone! Link, you and your friends have got to help!"

"Where's the Fire Temple located?" Link then asked the Goron.

"It's inside Death Mountain's crater. Unfortunately, it's blistering hot in the crater because there's pools of lava in it. Someone in your clothes will be overcome by the heat in just a matter of minutes without some protection of some type. Let me go get you some heat resistant clothes." The Goron then walked off to another part of the cavern to get the clothes.

"Well Link, looks like I get to go with you this time." InuYasha said with a grin.

"What makes you think that?" Link replied.

"Because I've faced dragons before. I recently slew one the size of a giant. Figured out how to summon my Wind Scar at will in the process." InuYasha replied.

"You referring to Ryuukotsusei?" Miroku asked him.

"That's right."

"Link, he speaks the truth. We all saw him do it. InuYasha was tiny compared to that dragon. InuYasha must be the one then to follow you into the Fire Temple." Miroku then said.

"Yep. And this Volvagia is probably gonna be a pushover compared to Ryuukotsusei." InuYasha then said.

"I'll ask when the Goron comes back then if he has a set of clothes for you." Link then said.

"I won't need them. This yukata and haori I'm wearing were made from the fire rat, and are already impervious to fire and heat. I'll be okay." InuYasha then said.

"He's telling the truth there too. I've seen him walk through fire without a scratch." Kagome said.

"You having to follow me then is probably what Sheik's going to say if we run into him on the way to the temple then." Link then said. At this time, the Goron returned with a set of clothes that looked exactly like what Link was already wearing, except they were red colored.

"Here Link. Dad had these made especially for you and was planning on giving them to you if you came back to visit. With them on, you can spend as much time in the crater as you want. Are any of these other people going with you?" the Goron then asked.

"I am. I've faced dragons before, and Link's going to need my help in killing this one." InuYasha then said.

"Is there any way we can get into the crater without having to climb up to the summit of Death Mountain? I'd like to avoid going that way if at all possible." Link then asked the Goron.

"Yes there is. There's a shortcut to the crater located behind the statue in Dad's room. You'll have to pull the statue out of the way though." it replied.

"I'm on it. Show us to his room." InuYasha said. The Goron them led them all to a sparsely decorated room with a huge statue in it. InuYasha walked up to the statue and grabbed a hold of it. Grunting, he then pulled the statue away from the wall, revealing a hidden passage. Link then went off to change, returning minutes later wearing the heat resistant tunic and hat the Goron had given him. He handed his regular clothes to Kagome.

"OK InuYasha, you ready?" Link asked.

"You bet I am. Let's get going and kill this Volvagia. I'm hungry for some action." he replied.

"Be careful InuYasha!" Kagome said in a very concerned voice as Link and InuYasha entered the passage.


	10. To Hell And Back Revised

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Nine: _To Hell And Back_

It took Link and InuYasha a few minutes to find their way through the passage. When they emerged from the other side, both of them were then struck by a blast of intense heat, like they had both just entered a blast furnace. The intense heat did not let up, and both of them felt like they had stepped into a giant oven. They looked around, and were astonished.

They were now standing in the vastness of Death Mountain's crater. The outer walls of the crater rose up 500 feet around them. They looked up and could see a dark, foreboding sky hovering over the crater. They were standing on a large ledge that overlooked a vast lake of magma. Huge stones jutted up out of the magma. InuYasha shook his head and started to feel queezy and teeter when Link caught him.

"You sure you don't want me to go back and get you those clothes?" Link asked InuYasha.

"Nah, it's not the heat. That's not the problem. It's the damn stench of ash and sulfur that's gotten to me. My sense of smell is ten times as sensitive as yours. This place is as hot as hell! That Goron wasn't kidding." InuYasha said.

"You said it." Link replied. They then began to look for the entrance to the Fire Temple. After walking around for a minute, they found a bridge leading over to an island on the magma lake. On the island was another platform like the one they found outside the Forest Temple, and a land bridge leading across to a stone entryway. Unfortunately, part of the bridge leading out to the island was gone. InuYasha noticed that the gap between where they were standing and the rest of the bridge was narrow enough for him to jump. Link meanwhile had noticed the wooden pilings of the bridge sticking out of a nearby rock. One piling was conveniently located right above the bridge.

"Link, climb on my back. I think I can jump it." InuYasha then said.

"I've got my own way, but thanks anyway." Link replied. He got out his Hookshot, aimed for the wooden piling above the bridge, and fired. InuYasha watched as he was then pulled across the gap, and he landed safely on the other side, on the remaining part of the bridge. InuYasha just let out a "Feh." and then jumped across himself, a little aggravated. They both then began to cross the rest of the bridge, when Sheik dropped down from above onto the island on the other side and walked up to them on the bridge.

"Looks like I don't have to tell you who to bring with you this time." he said to Link.

"You got that right. I've faced dragons before. This Volvagia will be a pushover." InuYasha said.

"Don't ever underestimate your enemy InuYasha. Volvagia is very dangerous, no matter what you may think. Link, here is the song that will bring you and InuYasha back here quickly should you need to leave to resupply yourselves, the Bolero of Fire." He then taught the song to Link. After he finished, and before InuYasha and Link could ask him another question, he said goodbye to them again, and set off another one of his flash devices and disappeared. Link and InuYasha then walked across the rest of the bridge to the island. Looking at the stone entryway across from them, InuYasha said,

"Think that's the entrance to the Fire Temple?"

"It has to be, it's the only entryway that looks artificially made." Link replied. They then crossed the land bridge into the entryway and found a ladder leading down a long shaft. InuYasha just jumped down and grunted when he landed at the bottom, while Link climbed down the ladder. The bottom was another passage that actually led into the temple itself.

Emerging from that passage, Link and InuYasha were now in a cavern with stairs leading up to three statues with hollows filled with fire. A doorway each was in the walls flanking the statues. One of the doors was chained shut, and InuYasha walked up to it.

"Hmm. Chained shut huh? I'll have this open in no time." InuYasha said as he unsheathed Tetsusaiga and prepared to bring it down onto the lock and chain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were-" Link started to say, but he was too late. InuYasha had already started to swing. However, when Tetsusaiga's blade struck the door's chain, instead of breaking it, sparks flew and the Tetsusaiga bounced off and resonated like a bell, and InuYasha's hands shook from the vibrations.

"What the hell?" InuYasha said.

"Powerful magic is what protected it. My sword won't work either. I tried the same thing on doors in the Forest Temple." Link explained. He then walked over to the other door and him and InuYasha entered.

The room they were now in was a large one with a large pool of magma in it. There were several platforms around too. On the platform on the far side and opposite of where they were standing, stood a very large and spiny looking Goron. He was standing in front of a large door with the same kind of chain and lock that Link had saw on the door to Phantom Ganon's lair in the Forest Temple. The Goron saw them enter, and called out to them.

"Halt! Who's in here?" He squinted and looked closely. "Is that you Link…? Wait a minute, it really is you, Link! You've gotten big since I last saw you! Who is that you have with you?" the Goron then shouted out to them.

"Darunia, his name's InuYasha, and he's come to help me out." Link shouted back.

"I see. Link, I'd like to have a serious man-to-man talk with you about where you've been for so long, and about your companion, but now ain't the time for that. Ganondorf's causing trouble on Death Mountain again. He's revived the ancient dragon Volvagia that my ancestor defeated long ago." Darunia, the Goron, then replied.

"Your son told us about that. That's why I'm here. I've faced dragons before." InuYasha then spoke up.

"He also told us about you saying that Ganondorf was going to feed your people to him as a warning to those who'd like to rebel against him." Link added in.

"There's another problem as well." Darunia then shouted back. "If that fire-breathing Volvagia manages to escape from this mountain, Hyrule will be turned into a burning wasteland. I'm going to go on ahead and try to keep the dragon sealed up in this mountain. I'm very concerned however, because I don't have the legendary hammer, but I have no choice. Link, I'm asking you to do this as my Sworn Brother. While I'm trying to deal with the dragon, I'd like you and your friend to save my people. They're locked up in cells throughout this temple. Good luck you two." Darunia finished. With that, he turned around and unlocked the massive chain and lock, and went on through the door. As soon as the door closed, however, the lock and chain mysteriously reappeared.

"I can't break that lock with Tetsusaiga either, can I? I'm sure I can make the jump across." InuYasha said as he looked across the room at the door Darunia had just gone through.

"That's right, you can't break the lock. We've got to find a special, large key for it. There was a lock exactly like that one on the door to the room that Kagome and I fought Phantom Ganon in, but the key we found and used broke apart as soon we opened the lock." Link then said. He then looked around and saw the first Goron cell on a platform beside the one Darunia had been standing on. "InuYasha look over there. You think you can make the jump over to there?"

"No problem. Just climb onto my back." InuYasha replied with a smile. Link did so, and InuYasha then easily made the jump. There was a switch in the floor that Link stepped on that opened the cell. The Goron thanked them and started to make his way out of the temple. Meanwhile, Link and InuYasha found a chest with a small key inside in the cell. They then proceeded to explore the temple and find the other Gorons. The monsters they ran into as they went along were strange. They ran into bats that were on fire yet still able to fly and live, slug like enemies that were ablaze and didn't go out until struck with a sword, and flaming skulls that liked to jump out of the numerous pools of magma in the temple. InuYasha just simply used his claws in helping Link defeat them, killing the enemies so quick he didn't get his hands burned. They also ran into many kinds of traps too, traps that InuYasha had the misfortune of discovering. They encountered rooms with invisible fire barriers that didn't become visible until they were attempted to be crossed, forcing them to find other ways around them. Those rooms also had in them columns that shot out fire when approached, and fake doors that fell down onto whoever foolishly tried to open them. There were also rooms with large boulders rolling around in them that they had to be careful in to avoid getting run over. At times too, Link had to use the explosives in the bag he had with him to allow them to keep going, blasting apart weak walls and fake doors. They also found and rescued more of the Gorons, and found more keys. Eventually, they found their way to a room that had a narrow staircase leading up to a large treasure chest encircled in flames, with another floor switch at the base of the staircase. Link stepped on the switch and the flames around the chest disappeared. A ticking sound also started.

"What's with the ticking?" InuYasha wondered.

"I recognize this. It's a race. One of us has to reach the chest before the flames flare up again whenever the switch is pressed, but I'm not going to go bounding up there to open the chest just yet. That switch should pop back up and we can hit it again, so I'm wanting to know how much time there is to get to the chest." Link then said. The ticking had gotten faster at that point, and moments later, the switch popped back up and the flames returned. Link then sighed. "That ain't enough time to run that far." he then said.

"For you maybe, but I can probably make it." InuYasha replied.

"Are you sure?" Link asked.

"Oh, I forgot. You haven't seen me run at top speed yet haven't you?" InuYasha said with a little bit of cockiness in his voice.

"No, I guess not."

"Here's your chance then. Hit that switch again. I'll have that chest open in no time."

"Suit yourself then." Link said as he pressed the switch. The flames disappeared, and a look of utter surprise came across Link's face as he watched InuYasha's legs become a blur as he dashed up the stairway in what seemed like only seconds. He then punched open the chest with little effort, and his eyebrows raised for a moment before grabbing the item inside and dashing back down the stairwell.

"What in the hell are we gonna need this for?" InuYasha asked to no one in particular as he showed Link the item. It was a large, metal hammer as big as the Master Sword. Link thought for a second then snapped his fingers.

"I got it! Remember what Darunia said? Before he went into the room that Volvagia is probably lurking in, he said that he was worried because he didn't have 'the legendary hammer'. Could this hammer be what he was talking about?" he then said.

"I guess." InuYasha said as he swung the hammer around to test its heft. "This thing is light. I can use it with one hand." he then said, swinging it with his sword arm.

"Let me try it." Link said. InuYasha handed the hammer to him. In Link's hands however, the hammer felt very heavy and cumbersome. "You may think it's light, but it ain't to me. Must be that demonic strength of yours." Link then handed the hammer back to InuYasha.

"That's why I'm better. Come on, we got a dragon to find and kill." InuYasha then said as he laid the hammer across his shoulder and started carrying it the same way he liked to carry Tetsusaiga whenever he had it out. Link ignored his little insult as they continued to explore the room. They came across a large, raised square in the floor with a face carved into it. Link noticed the square had some give to it when they stepped on it. He looked at their new hammer that InuYasha was carrying and an idea came to his head.

"Man, where's the door outta here?" InuYasha complained as he looked around.

"I think we're standing on it. Try hitting this square we're standing on with that hammer." Link then said.

"Alright. If you say so." InuYasha replied, skeptical. They jumped off, and InuYasha raised the hammer with both hands and brought it down hard on the square. BAM! The square then dropped away down into the floor of a room below. InuYasha became wide eyed at that. He then looked at the hammer. "Guess this thing's useful for something after all." They both then jumped down into the room, and continued on.

The hammer did get some more use, as they started coming upon Goron cells with rusted switches that InuYasha has to use the hammer on to get to work. In the one particular room with the fire barriers and flame throwing columns, they found a huge pillar that looked like it could be hammered down as well. When InuYasha used the hammer on it, the pillar shook and dropped away. However, InuYasha and Link had been standing on it, so they fell too! Link screamed in utter terror, while InuYasha had grabbed him and put him on his back and prepared himself for the hard landing he knew was coming. They fell for a long distance, and InuYasha saw that they were falling into the same room they had met Darunia in! The pillar had fallen into a perfectly placed slot in the floor, and formed a bridge to the platform that Darunia had been standing on, meaning InuYasha wouldn't have to make another death-defying leap across the magma pool in the room to get to the boss door.

THUMP! InuYasha landed hard on the new pillar-bridge. The fact that Link was on his back and he still had the hammer on his shoulder didn't help matters either.

"UURRRGGG!" InuYasha grunted loudly. "Damn! That fucking hurt! Link you alright?"

"I'm shaken a little, but OK. How about you?" Link said as he got off of InuYasha's back.

"My legs are gonna be sore awhile after that one." InuYasha said as he rubbed his now aching legs. They then left the room and entered the first room of the temple where the entrance was. There was another statue in there that InuYasha destroyed with the hammer that revealed a door. They went through it, and through a few more monster infested rooms before they finally found the last Goron to free. In his cell was a very ornate looking chest with a padlock on it that InuYasha saw looked like he could break with the hammer. He swung at it and the padlock shattered. Inside the chest was a massive, jeweled, gold colored key. "Link, is this the key we've been looking for?" InuYasha asked as he looked at the key.

"That's the one. Kagome and I had to use one exactly like this one in the Forest Temple." Link replied. At that, InuYasha then began to find his way back to the boss door room where they had seen Darunia, Link huffing to catch up. They both crossed the pillar-bridge to the massive lock, and InuYasha used the key to unlock it. The key broke apart, and the lock and chain fell to the floor. InuYasha picked them up and effortlessly threw them into the magma pool to get them out of the way, then he and Link went through the door into the room where Volvagia was supposedly lurking. The door shut and locked behind them, and Link and InuYasha saw they were in a huge cavern. A large island stood in the center of another magma lake, with four platforms leading across to it. They jumped from platform to platform until they got to the island. The island, they saw, had nine holes filled with magma in it.

"Where the hell is that Volvagia? Have we been tricked?" InuYasha asked aloud.

"Darunia isn't here either. Where could he be?" Link also asked. Just then the room started to shake. InuYasha turned and saw that the platforms that they had used to get onto the island were sinking into the magma.

"Link, look!" he then said.

"I don't like the looks of this." Link said when he saw it too. The platforms had just disappeared into the magma when a long, snakelike, orange and yellow dragon breathing fire shot up out of one of the holes, roaring with anger. The dragon then began to fly around. InuYasha handed Link the hammer and drew Tetsusaiga.

"So this is Volvagia huh? Wind Scar!" InuYasha said as he unleashed the powerful attack toward the dragon. His aim was true, but when the Wind Scar hit the dragon, Volvagia, it only screamed in intense pain for a minute, then the wound the attack inflicted healed, and Volvagia then began to come toward InuYasha! InuYasha tried to jump out of the way, but Volvagia had already unleashed its flame breath. InuYasha caught the full brunt of the flame attack as Link watched in horror. Link's face then took on a look of amazement as InuYasha jumped out of the fire and at Volvagia with Tetsusaiga raised. InuYasha's fire rat yukata and haori had easily protected him, and only his face looked a little singed. He brought Tetsusaiga down onto Volvagia's long body, but the massive sword bounced off of it like it had hit a stone wall, and vibrated intensely again. Again Link noted InuYasha's lack of good sword skills. InuYasha dropped to the ground in complete shock as Volvagia then began to head for one of the holes. Just before it entered, Link noticed that it's head seemed to be pulsing continuously. "What the hell? Is this dragon's skin just as hard as Ryuukotsusei's was?" InuYasha wondered as he looked at a still vibrating Tetsusaiga.

"InuYasha, stand back. I think I know where to use this hammer on it." Link said as he began to watch the magma holes closely. The hole behind them began to bubble.

"Behind us!" InuYasha shouted as he heard the bubbling. They turned around just to see Volvagia raise its head out of the hole. Link wasted no time in putting his plan into action. He hefted the hammer with both hands and tried to run toward Volvagia, but the hammer was too heavy and he was forced to only lumber along. He finally reached the dragon and brought the hammer down on its head. Volvagia screamed in pain again, and it's head dropped to the ground, stunned. Link tried to lift the hammer again to deliver another blow, but his lack of physical strength showed through and he was too slow in lifting it before the dragon recovered and pulled its head back down. Link was panting heavily, sweat pouring down on his face. InuYasha sheathed Tetsusaiga for the moment and ran up, intending to take the hammer from Link again, when Volvagia re-emerged from the same hole, this time completely flying out and now flying toward them again, breathing its flame breath. InuYasha grabbed Link by the waist and jumped clear of the flame again. But Volvagia was persistant this time and pursued them, unleashing its breath again and again, InuYasha carrying Link and dodging every time.. It finally gave up and went back into a hole. InuYasha saw that Link looked exhausted already.

"Gimme that damn hammer. You ain't got the strength to use that thing. I'LL smash Volvagia's brains in with the hammer, and then we'll both try our swords on its head." InuYasha said to Link in an aggravated voice as he let go of him. Link obliged, then bent over and put his hands on his knees and rested for a moment.

"Good plan. I like it better." Link admitted in between deep breaths. He then stood back up and drew the Master Sword and his shield. InuYasha easily held the hammer in both hands, the hammer actually feeling a little lighter than his Tetsusaiga. It was at that moment Volvagia poked its head up out another hole. This one a few yards away. InuYasha dashed toward the dragon with the hammer raised. Link followed close behind, able to run again now that he wasn't weighed down by the hammer.

"Take this!" InuYasha shouted as he brought the hammer down onto Volvagia's head with devastating effect, and Volvagia screamed in absolute agony as its head crashed to the ground. InuYasha then rapidly switched to holding the hammer with one hand and drew Tetsusaiga as Link began to swing the Master Sword. The Master Sword and Tetsusaiga both slashed into the dragon's head at the same time to great effect, but didn't kill it immediately. Volvagia again screamed in agony and withdrew back into the hole. "This damn thing just doesn't want to die!" InuYasha said in frustration as Volvagia again flew out of the hole.

"At least we are hurting him. He can't take punishment like that forever." Link observed. They then noticed that Volvagia was now flying upward toward the ceiling of the cavern.

"What the hell is it doing now?" InuYasha asked. They then saw the dragon begin to rip hunks of rock out of the ceiling and fling them down to where they were standing. "Damn! This guy doesn't like to play fair at all!" InuYasha shouted as him and Link dodged the falling boulders. Volvagia then flew back down and into another hole. InuYasha had now had enough of this. When Volvagia stuck it's head back out of another hole, InuYasha brought the hammer down onto its head with everything he had. Him and Link swung their swords at its head again with every ounce of strength they had in them. The dragon's scream this time was even louder and more agony filled. But they now noticed that it flew back out more slowly than it did before, and its eyes were closing slowly. It then caught on fire on began to burn away. It burned and burned until only the skeleton remained, and the skeleton then fell from the air and crashed into the magma around them.

"Finally, it's done." Link said as he sheathed the Master Sword. He then sat down on the ground, exhausted. InuYasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and ran over to him, concerned.

"You alright?" He asked Link.

"I will be in a minute." Link then reached into his pouch and got out one of his bottles of medicine, opened it up and drank. He instantly felt a lot stronger and got back up. "Whew. That sure hit the spot. Here InuYasha, have a swig." Link said as he got another bottle full of the red medicine and offered it to him. InuYasha hesitated for a moment, then took the bottle from him and drank too. Immediately the singed places on his face disappeared, and he suddenly felt like he could take on an endless number of Naraku's demons! InuYasha then nodded at the bottle with a smile.

"This is some damn good stuff, no doubt about it." he said as he handed the now empty bottle back to Link. "Now how do we get outta here?"

"Look behind you." Link said. InuYasha turned around and saw a bright circle of light. The same kind of circle that appeared in the Forest Temple after Link and Kagome had defeated Phantom Ganon. They both walked over into the light circle, and vanished.


	11. InuYasha's Training Revised

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Ten: _InuYasha's Training_

"So this is the Chamber of Sages huh?" InuYasha said, looking around and back and forth between Darunia and Saria. Link had introduced him to them both first thing.

"That's right. So you are one of the Allies? Nice job, both of you. InuYasha, I think you deserve to be called a Sworn Brother to me as well." Darunia said, standing on the red pedestal of the platform. Darunia then looked at Link. "Now Link, tell me. Where have you been for all of this time? I just wanna know."

"Locked up in here. That's where." Link replied.

"What? How?" Darunia asked, flabbergasted.

Link then explained how he had been locked up in the Sacred Realm for the last seven years.

"Oh well. At least now you are free and Ganondorf will soon be defeated, once the rest of the Sages are in here." said Darunia.

"So that's where you've been for all this time Link? In here?" asked Saria

"Uh huh. Now Darunia, I think you've got a medallion for me, don't you?" asked Link.

"Oh that's right. I forgot about that. Here." Darunia said, then raising his arms up. Another medallion, this one red, floated down, and Link took it.

"See you again soon, next time the Sage of the Water Temple will be joining you, whoever they are." Link said to Darunia and Saria as him and InuYasha disappeared.

Link and InuYasha both reappeared on the island in the middle of Death Mountain's crater, and they both then started to make their way back to Goron City and the others. InuYasha was still carrying the hammer.

"Well Link, since you said the Water Temple Sage is next, where is this 'Water Temple'?" InuYasha asked after they had crossed back across the bridge. Link used his Hookshot again, and InuYasha jumped.

"We have to head to Lake Hylia, a large lake to the south, but I want to make a stop in Kakariko Village first. I need some rest after that fight with Volvagia. InuYasha, there's something about you that still concerns me." Link said as they started to make their way back through the passage into Goron City.

"And what is that?" InuYasha asked flatly.

"Your lack of sword skills." Link replied.

"What? You're wrong there. I've already mastered using my Tetsusaiga. The Wind Scar is it's normal attack and that took me forever to learn. I've now also learned another, more powerful attack called the Backlash Wave that's the most powerful attack it has." InuYasha said in an annoyed voice.

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about using your sword in melee combat where you can't use those attacks. You're poorly lacking in that area and I'd like to give you some training on that." Link said.

"Spare me. I don't need it." InuYasha snapped back. Link just sighed as they continued on through the passage.

_'Looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way.'_ Link thought. A few minutes later they emerged from the passage back into Darunia's throne room in Goron City. Kagome immediately ran up to InuYasha and hugged him. Shippo also ran up and jumped onto his shoulder and hugged him too.

"You're still alive!" Shippo cried.

"You're safe! I thought something had happened to you!" Kagome cried, her eyes almost teary.

"We all did. We're relieved to see you both return." Miroku said.

"Of course I'm fine! That Volvagia wasn't any problem. What's got you all so worked up?" InuYasha asked.

"A short time ago, this whole mountain shook violently for a few moments. We all thought there had been an eruption. Miroku and I were going to go into the passage and see what was happening, but the Gorons feared for our safety and stopped us from going in." Sango said. Link and InuYasha then recounted their experiences in the Fire Temple. Link also admitted that he had some newfound respect for InuYasha. It was then when Darunia's son entered the room, and a huge smile came across his face when he saw Link and InuYasha.

"Everybody's back, safe and sound, and you two are safe! Thanks Link and InuYasha! By the way, where's dad?" he asked. _'How am I going to explain this?'_ Link thought. Miroku then spoke up.

"Link, were you right? Was Darunia a Sage?"

"Yes Miroku, he was." Link then turned to Darunia's son, the other Link. "Don't worry, your dad's still alive. We saved him. He's now went off to stay in a safe place until Ganondorf's gone. I guarantee that's going to happen soon. He's got powers that are going to help us in defeating Ganondorf. Once Ganondorf's gone, he'll come back." Link then said.

"So dad's still alive and helping you out is he? That's good to hear. When he gets back, we're going to have a party like Goron City has never had." the Goron replied.

"Link the Goron, do you want us to leave the hammer here with you all?" Link then asked, gesturing toward the hammer InuYasha still had slung over his shoulder.

"No. We think you and your friends should borrow it for the time being. It just may become of use again on your journey to take down Ganondorf." he replied.

"Ok then. Well, I think it's time we made our way back to Kakariko Village for some rest. I'm bushed, and I think InuYasha is too." said Link.

"Feh." InuYasha just looked away at that. On the way out of Goron City they met the rest of the Gorons and received more thanks and praise from them. They then left the city and started to make their way down Death Mountain. Along the way they all stopped again at the fork in the path.

"Look at that!" Kagome shouted as she pointed up toward the summit of Death Mountain.

"What it is it?" InuYasha asked.

"The fire ring. It's gone!" said Sango, astonished. Instead of a fire ring, the summit was now encircled only with a peaceful looking cloud.

"Perhaps that's what that violent shaking was, that fire cloud dissipating." Miroku wondered, rubbing his chin.

"That's how this mountain looked the first time I climbed it. It's good to see it this way again." Link stated with relief in his voice. They then continued on back to Kakariko Village.

The peaceful night in Kakariko Village had been just what everybody was needing. Everyone, especially Link and InuYasha, slept well. The villagers had also thanked them for finally returning Death Mountain to normal. The next morning Link had announced their next destination, Lake Hylia, to the south as they were getting ready to leave. As they reentered Hyrule Field however, Link walked up to InuYasha.

"InuYasha, are you still sure you don't need that swordsmanship training?" Link asked him.

"Of course I'm sure. I don't need any training." InuYasha replied in a cocky voice. Link then did something that shocked them all. He drew the Master Sword and his shield!

"I'm afraid I have no choice then. Draw your sword InuYasha." Link then said slowly and sternly at him. He then began to advance towards him.

"Link, what are you doing!" Kagome cried. InuYasha was now starting to get angry.

"You want to fight? Then that's what you're going to get!" InuYasha said angrily as he drew Tetsusaiga.

"I'd advise you not to use your Wind Scar. I can still reflect it, and you're already making a big mistake as a swordsman." Link said unemotionally as he started to attack InuYasha. His sword blows started coming lightning fast, and InuYasha found himself barely able to block his attacks. CLANG! CLANG! CLINGCLING! CLANG! CLONG! Sparks of energy were flying like crazy as the Master Sword struck Tetsusaiga again and again in rapid succession. Link's attacks were coming so fast in fact, that InuYasha was being unable to strike back. He was having to stay on the defensive constantly. Tetsusaiga was also starting to vibrate from the force and frequency of Link's sword blows. Kagome and the others were watching in complete fear and utter shock.

"InuYasha's having a very hard time holding him off, and the Tetsusaiga sounds like it's starting to cry again." Sango said, a very concerned look on her face.

"Why is he doing this? I thought he was our friend!" Shippo asked.

"Hold on. I think I know what Link's doing." Miroku suddenly said.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, tears starting to well up in her face.

"He's testing him. That's what Link's doing. He's testing InuYasha's skills. And judging by the looks on his face, I don't think Link is impressed at all." said Miroku.

InuYasha meanwhile was frustrated with how fast Link's attacks were coming. _'How the hell did this guy become so fast all of a sudden? Was he really holding back like he said he was when we first fought? I've got to try and stop him, but how? I can't use the Wind Scar. He may break the Tetsusaiga if he keeps this up, and Totosai's not in this world.'_ he thought as he barely parried more blows from Link.

_'Just as I thought, his defensive skills are just as pathetic as his offensive skills. He's got much to learn. I'm still holding back, and he's barely able to keep up with me. It's time to bring this test to an end, I've seen all I need to see. I may break his sword if I keep this up much longer.'_ Link thought. He then faked a blow in one direction and caught InuYasha off guard. Immediately then Link aimed for the base of Tetsusaiga's blade, and knocked the massive sword out of the hands of a now utterly shocked InuYasha, sending it whirling into the air. Tetsusaiga landed blade-first in the ground a few feet from them both, and transformed back into it's docile state. Kagome was now ready to run up and throw herself in Link's way when Link then surprised them all again. Instead of finishing InuYasha off, he sheathed the Master Sword and his shield, retrieved Tetsusaiga, and offered it to InuYasha.

"Still sure you want to pass up on that training, now that I've thoroughly beaten you again? I was still holding back, and yet you weren't able to get even a single attack in." Link said.

"I'm not gonna need it once we get back to our own world, so I why would I want it if the only thing it's gonna do for me is get me to where I can finally beat you in duels?" asked InuYasha angrily after snatching the Tetsusaiga back from him and sheathing it. Miroku then walked over. WHAP! Miroku rapped InuYasha over the head lightly with his staff. "What the hell was that for?" InuYasha yelled at him.

"InuYasha, I can't believe you've forgotten already about your brother, Sesshomaru. Don't you remember back when he had Kaijinbo forge for him that demonic sword, the Tokijin, from Goshinki's fangs? Goshinki was the demon that originally bit your Tetsusaiga in two. Sesshomaru now has a sword that he can actually use on you, and remember his other sword, Tenseiga, protects him from the Wind Scar. It'd be very foolhardy I think of you to continue to refuse this training Link's offering. With it, I think you stand a much better chance the next time you take on your brother." Miroku said sternly.

"Alright already! I'll take the training then." InuYasha finally said grudgingly.

"Thanks for the help Miroku. InuYasha follow me. The rest of you can tag along if you want, but keep a good distance away so I can teach InuYasha without any distractions." Link then said. The others did follow. Link took InuYasha out into a nice, flat, open area of Hyrule Field, and began the training. Over the next several days, Link put InuYasha through vigorous and difficult sword lessons. The first thing he worked on was InuYasha's defensive skills. Link taught InuYasha how use his massive Tetsusaiga more effectively as a shield, how to parry like an expert and how to better and more quickly anticipate an opponent's next move. InuYasha caught on to these skills quickly, something that Link was relieved to see. Link combined these defensive lessons with sparring sessions between him and InuYasha, initially with him only attacking and InuYasha only defending, so InuYasha could practice the skills he'd now learned, and perfect and adapt them to himself. As InuYasha's proficiency got better, Link increased the difficulty, attacking faster and faster until finally one day he was attacking all out against InuYasha and InuYasha was able to block each attack effectively. Only then did Link move on to the offensive side of things.

InuYasha at first hated the lessons. He knew Miroku was right, that the training would be of great benefit the next time he took on his brother, Sesshomaru, but he didn't figure he would be fighting his brother THAT often. But gradually, as the training progressed, InuYasha noticed that Tetsusaiga seemed to be getting even lighter and even more easier to wield than it did after he had killed Ryuukotsusei. Instead of it feeling like just an extension of his arms, the sword gradually began to feel like it was an integral part of his body, like it had always been there. He began to feel like he was becoming one with it. The sword's tone when struck also began to change too. Instead of sounding like a high-pitched cry when struck, the sword's tone gradually became a little lower and more sweeter sounding, as if it was becoming more approving of its master.

InuYasha's offensive training went much quicker. Link found that his offensive skills had needed drastic refinement and smoothing out more than anything. Tetsusaiga having become lighter during the defensive training played a role in the offensive training going quicker. One of the few techniques that Link had to start from scratch with was how to disarm an opponent, and this InuYasha mastered quickly because his sword was so large it was easy to use to knock an opponent's weapon out of the way. Link noticed too that InuYasha's attack style was different from his. Whereas he relied more on speed and finesse to defeat an opponent with the Master Sword, InuYasha's Tetsusaiga made him more reliant on raw power and brute force.

The quintessential day came. It was time for Link to test InuYasha once again.

"So InuYasha, you think you can beat me now?" Link asked, Master Sword and shield ready.

"You bet I am. You better come at me with everything you've got this time. 'Cause I certainly will be." InuYasha said with a grin, Tetsusaiga slung over his shoulder. Just as InuYasha requested, Link didn't hold anything back. He came at InuYasha full force as Kagome and the others watched close by. Kagome couldn't keep the worried look off her face despite seeing InuYasha's skills drastically improve over the previous days. Link's blows again came as fast as lightning, but this time InuYasha was not having trouble fending them off. InuYasha watched Link closely and figured out his attack pattern. When Link tried to knock the Tetsusaiga out of his hands again, InuYasha was ready and this time put some force behind his parry. This pushed Link back some and suddenly InuYasha was on the offensive. His goal was simple: knock the Master Sword out of Link's hands, instead of it happening the other way around. Link was now having trouble defending InuYasha's attacks, since InuYasha's greater strength was giving him an advantage. Link kept getting backed up, the Tetsusaiga starting to put light scratches in his shield, until InuYasha faked a strike up high. When Link was caught off guard, InuYasha first knocked his shield and shield arm out of the way, leaving him wide open to attack. He then struck the base of the Master Sword's blade hard with the Tetsusaiga, yanking it out of Link's hands and sending it flying up really high. The Master Sword landed blade first in the ground right beside InuYasha, just as he had intended. InuYasha then slung the Tetsusaiga back over his shoulder, a huge grin on his face.

"Congratulations, InuYasha. You've now got skills that match the power of your weapon." Link said with a smile as he retrieved and inspected the Master Sword, then sheathed it.

"I didn't think it was possible to make this thing any lighter than it already was. Once I noticed this training was making it lighter and even easier to use, that's when I began to like it." InuYasha said as he looked at the Tetsusaiga and admired how it had now become even lighter than before. He could also sense it pulsing in his hand again, this time the pulsing feeling like the sword was applauding him for learning how to use it even better. He then sheathed it with a feeling of satisfaction running through him.

"InuYasha! I'm so glad for you!" Kagome now said as she ran up and hugged him.

"You finally beat him!" Shippo shouted happily.

"That training is gonna help in all future battles, not just in fights against your brother." Miroku then said as he walked up.

"Why do you say that?" InuYasha then asked him. InuYasha had in the meantime noticed the sun was starting to set, and was watching it closely.

"Because now it will be much harder for enemies to knock the Tetsusaiga out of your hands. You'll be able to block attacks a lot better, maybe even knock some of them back if they start throwing stuff at you." he replied. Link had now noticed how InuYasha was keeping a concerned eye on the setting sun.

"InuYasha, what's with that worried look on your face?" he then asked. Sango suddenly gasped.

"InuYasha, is it that certain time of the month again?" Sango suddenly asked.

"What are you all talking about?" Link asked everyone. InuYasha ignored him and looked back at Sango as the sun dipped below the horizon. A look of shock came to Link's face at what happened as InuYasha then spoke.

"Yes Sango," he said, waiting for a moment as his hair turned black, his dog ears disappeared and human ones appeared, and his claws disappeared, completing his transformation into a human. He then continued, "it is."


	12. Mysterious Empty Lake and a Chilly River

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Eleven: _Mysterious Empty Lake and a Chilly River_

It was later that evening. They had pitched camp and were cooking meat from some small animals InuYasha had caught that morning, because Kagome had run out of ramen a few days earlier. Link had used a small dagger he had to clean the kills, and him and Kagome were the ones doing the cooking. Link was still shocked at seeing InuYasha as a human.

"So, you lose your powers and become a mortal on nights of the new moon?" Link asked him.

"That's right. Now let's leave it at there. I'm not as on edge tonight as I usually am when this happens, however, since you're with us. Damn, I'm glad I'm only like this for one night a month. Link, I'll be back to normal in the morning, in case you're wondering." InuYasha replied. He was sitting in front of the fire in the same position he usually slept in.

"Link, InuYasha can't make his sword transform on these nights too. It _is_ a good thing you are with us." said Miroku.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Link then asked, a little bit agitated.

"Well genius, in case you didn't realize it, the fact that this happens to me and when it happens are my two biggest secrets. Being so secretive about it is what keeps me safe on nights when I'm like this. I don't stand a chance in hell if I get attacked on these nights." InuYasha replied with a bit of anger in his voice.

"I take back what I said then. Now I understand, and apologize." Link then said sympathetically. "What's this I hear of you having a brother as well?" he then asked curiously.

"His brother, Sesshomaru, is actually only a half-brother, and unlike InuYasha, who's half-demon, Sesshomaru is full-demon. They both had the same father, but InuYasha's mother was human. Sesshomaru is not like InuYasha at all. He despises InuYasha greatly; first because he is half-demon, and second because he got the better sword from their father. He is always trying to kill InuYasha." Miroku then said, and continued on about the ongoing feud between InuYasha and Sesshomaru, telling Link about how InuYasha's Tetsusaiga was an heirloom from his father and how it differed from Sesshomaru's heirloom sword, the Tenseiga, and how both swords were made from the fangs of their father. Link's jaw dropped to the ground when Miroku told him about how the Tenseiga was a sword that couldn't harm, only heal, and has the potential to bring 100 people back to life with one sweep, making the sword an equal and opposite brother to InuYasha's Tetsusaiga.

"Are you serious? Can it really do that?" Link then asked, his eyes as big as saucers.

"That's what the smith who forged it says it can do. We've never actually seen Sesshomaru use it yet to bring somebody back to life, and I seriously doubt that he ever will use it in that fashion. We've only seen it protect him from the Wind Scar. The smith who forged it also made the Tetsusaiga, but both swords were forged according to the father's wishes, not the smith's. The father also decreed who would get which sword." Miroku finished.

"So the father was the architect of them, and the smith only did the actual work of making them?"Link asked.

"That's correct."Miroku replied.

"You don't think Sesshomaru will ever use his Tenseiga then for what it was meant for?" Link then asked InuYasha.

"Of course not. He's too black hearted. I still don't get why it chose to protect him from the Wind Scar in the first place." he replied.

"Link, how far are we from Lake Hylia?" Sango then asked, changing the subject.

"We're very, very close. If we get going at dawn tomorrow, we might be there by mid-morning. Still, I'm worried about something." he replied.

"And what's that?" Shippo asked him.

"When I visited the lake seven years ago, I learned that the Water Temple lies at the bottom of it. I might not be able to enter it right now, but I wanted to go there to make sure Ganondorf hasn't done anything. Knowing how he is, I've got a suspicion he's messed things up there just like he did at Death Mountain and Kokiri Forest."

"What do you need to do to be able to enter this Water Temple then?" InuYasha asked.

"I'm not sure, but I do think I know where to find that out. After we visit the lake tomorrow, we'll pay a visit to Zora's Domain, at the source of Zora's River."

"Who are the Zora?" Kagome then asked.

"The Zora are a fish-like people who live in Zora's Domain and protect Zora's River. The Water Temple is a sacred place to them, and I guess they must have built it a long, long time ago. They're the ones I got the third and last Spiritual Stone from." Link finished.

"Well, we better get some sleep then, after we eat, since we need to get going before sunrise if we want to get there as early as we can." said Miroku. They all agreed at that and bedded down shortly after eating dinner.

They had awoken early the next morning, shortly before dawn, and just as he had told Link, InuYasha returned to being a half-demon as soon as the sun came up. They broke camp and set out for Lake Hylia to the south. They made good time, arriving at what Link said was the path that led down to Lake Hylia by mid morning. Unfortunately, the path was gated up with two gates, both six and a half feet high and extending from one side of the path to the other. At each side of the path were walls and hills that made going around the gates impossible. The second gate was 25 feet down the path from the first. There was a ladder that led up and across the wall to the area behind the second gate.

"Being trapped in the Sacred Realm has effected my memory some. I forgot about these gates." Link said.

"This'll be no problem for us, but you think that horse of yours can make the jumps over?" InuYasha asked him as Kagome got on his back and he picked up her bike.

"I'm sure Epona can make it. These gates look to be a little bit lower than those walls we had to jump to make it out of Lon Lon Ranch." Link replied. InuYasha then jumped both gates while Kagome was on his back and her bike was slung over his shoulder.

"Link, if Epona pulls up and you can't get her to try the jumps, I'll come back over and pick you up." Sango said as Kiara effortlessly flew over the gates with her, Miroku, and Shippo on her back. After they landed, them, InuYasha and Kagome then moved off to the sides of the path so Link and Epona would have a clear place to land after jumping the second gate. Link turned Epona around and put some distance between her and the gate to give her a nice running start. He then turned her back around and spurred her into a full gallop towards the gates. When she neared them, Epona jumped up and over the first gate, then the second one without much difficulty, making the landing on the other side easily. They then continued on down the path for a little ways until they came to the clearing where Lake Hylia was, and gasped.

Before them was a vast lake that was a breathtaking sight. There was a large island in the center of it, and what appeared to be a dock with large stone columns was right in front of them. Forest surrounded the whole lake. There was just one major problem. The lake appeared to be completely empty of water!

"What the hell? Where's the water?" InuYasha wondered in complete shock.

"How can this be? Was this lake full of water before?" Kagome then asked.

"Ganondorf did this. I'm sure of it." Link then said, an intense look on his face.

"He is indeed powerful to be able to accomplish a feat like this." Miroku then said. Sango and Shippo were completely speechless and utterly shocked. Link suddenly jumped off Epona and ran over to the dock-like structure. InuYasha and Miroku followed him. Just as Link started to near the structure, a bunch of blue-colored spider monsters, the same kind they found on Death Mountain, hopped from below a ledge and started toward them. There were many more of them this time.

"I got these things!" InuYasha shouted. Instead of using the Wind Scar, InuYasha instead ran up and jumped into the midst of the monsters, and swung the Tetsusaiga in a great circle, shredding each and every one of the monsters to little pieces. His swing also this time was smooth and skillful looking, the result of Link's training now very apparent.

"Nice job, InuYasha. Now how easy was that?" Link then asked him.

"Damn. Link, Miroku, you were right. That was hardly any effort at all, and I didn't need the Wind Scar too. I feel like I could do this all day."InuYasha then said, hefting the sword back over his shoulder, in case they found more monsters. Link now ran up and jumped down off a ledge into the now empty lake into an area in front of the dock structure that seven years ago had been underwater.

"Guys, look at this!" Link shouted back up. Kagome and the others started following Miroku and InuYasha down to where Link was standing.

"What is it?" Sango asked after they got to the same spot where Link was standing.

"Look here." Link pointed at a wall that appeared to be part of the dock-like structure. He was specifically pointing at what looked like a large hunk of ice sticking out of it. "This ice right here. It's plugging up a magical warp point I used to travel here from Zora's Domain those seven years ago."

"That ice doesn't look like it's melting." said InuYasha. Shippo ran up to it and touched the ice.

"Yeowch!" Shippo said as he pulled his hand back rapidly. "So cold! That ice is colder than anything I've ever touched!"

"Outta the way." InuYasha said. He walked up and hacked off a large piece of the ice that fell to the ground and started to melt. Inexplicably, the place on the ice block he had just cut started to reform immediately! Within seconds, the ice looked like InuYasha hadn't even cut it. A surprised look crossed InuYasha's face. "What the...? Dammit! More powerful magic at work!"

"How did it reform like that?" Kagome then said. Miroku then walked up to the ice block and closed his eyes for a moment, pointing his staff at the block. Keeping his eyes closed, he then began to move his staff around, trying to pinpoint the direction where the magic was coming from that was sustaining the ice. When he finally had the direction and opened his eyes, his staff was pointing toward the large island in the center of the lake. It was specifically pointing toward the lake floor in that area.

"The dark magic that's sustaining the ice is emanating from that area." he concluded. They all then began to trudge toward the area Miroku's staff had been pointing towards. The way was difficult and muddy, but eventually they found that there was still some water in the area of the lake floor surrounding the island. Strangely, it was raining continuously only in that area of the lake too. Miroku kept his staff pointed, and followed it where it sensed the magic was coming from. Eventually, they found themselves standing at the water's edge facing two more columns sticking out of the water. Underwater, at the very base of the island, they all saw what looked like an entrance of some sort, with an iron gate barring it. Right above it appeared to be a carving of some sort. Miroku was pointing his staff right at the entrance. "From that entrance, that's precisely where the magic's coming from."

"That's the entrance to the Water Temple. I have no idea how we're going to get that gate open." Link said.

"I'll get it open. Just leave it to me." InuYasha then said as he sheathed the Tetsusaiga and jumped into the water, swimming down to the entrance. He reached it, and grabbed a hold of the gate, and tried to pull it open with every ounce of strength he had, but it wouldn't budge. He then came up for air, and swam back down, re-drawing Tetsusaiga as he swam, and tried to cut the bars, but that didn't work either. He sheathed the sword, swam back to the surface and raced back up to where Link had left Epona, and pulled the Gorons' hammer from the harness they used to carry it on the horse. He then returned. "This oughta work." he said as he dove back into the water. He swung at the bars with it with everything he had. CLAAAANNNNGGGG! The bars again held true. Giving up, InuYasha then swam back to the surface.

"Dammit. That didn't work either." he said after he surfaced.

"We've got no choice then. We must head to Zora's Domain like Link said and see if the Zoras will tell us how to open it." Miroku then said.

"Let's get going then." Link said. They trudged back up to the lake's former shore, and departed. The rest of the day was spent with Link leading them back across Hyrule Field to a narrow path on the forest edge that a river, Zora's River, was flowing from. It was dusk. When they started to approach the path however, a very chilly wind struck them. Link suddenly stopped.

"That cold wind. There wasn't a wind like that here when I visited seven years ago." he said.

"Could Ganondorf have done something here too?" Sango then asked.

"I'm not sure, but I sure don't like the looks of this. Come on." Link replied, and led them on. The path did continue to follow the river, but there were many dangerous obstacles they had to worm their way around or jump over. They also came across many strange, purple monsters that jumped out of the river and flung rocks at them. Link used his shield to bounce the rocks back at them, killing them. They soon came to a spot where they had to leave Epona and Kagome's bike behind and continue the rest of the way on foot. The air got colder and colder as they went, leaving Link with a sense of dread about what they'd find when they finally reached Zora's Domain. They stopped at one point so that Sango could change out of her battle suit back into her normal clothes for extra warmth. Eventually, they came to a massive waterfall with a platform in front of it. Rather ominously, it was snowing lightly at this spot too.

"This snow is definitely not a good sign. I hope what I'm thinking hasn't happened, but it may just have." Link then said.

"Link, you were right. Your memory is shot. You've only managed to lead us to a dead end." InuYasha said in an agitated voice, and he started to turn back.

"InuYasha, haven't you learned yet that sometimes things aren't what they seem like?" Link then said with a chuckle as he got the Ocarina of Time back out.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" InuYasha then asked. Link didn't answer and InuYasha and the others watched with a puzzled look as Link then played another tune on the instrument. When he finished, he gestured toward the waterfall. They looked. To all but Link's surprise, the waters of the waterfall suddenly began to part in the center, revealing a cave entrance!

"What kind of magic has that thing got?" Miroku then asked.

"It's not the instrument that does it. It was the tune I played. Come on. I really want to get in there and see what condition Zora's Domain is in." Link then said in a concerned voice. They then jumped across a narrow gap to the cave entrance and went on through. What they saw on the other side left them in complete and utter shock for the second time that day, especially Link.

They were now standing in a vast cavern that appeared at one time to have been full of water. Now, however, it was full of ice! There was a frozen waterfall that appeared to have been emptying into a pool. It was also very, very cold inside the cavern too. Link was completely speechless, the rest confused.

"Was this place once full of water too? What happened?" Shippo asked.

"I've never seen anything like this. What could've done it?" said Sango.

"Brrrr! It's so cold in here!" Kagome then said. She had started to shiver.

"Here." InuYasha said, taking off the outer layer of his red fire rat clothing and handing it to her.

"Thanks, InuYasha." Kagome then said as she put them on.

"Look down there, in the ice!" Miroku said. InuYasha jumped down onto the ice. He looked at the spot where Miroku was pointing. Underneath, frozen in the ice, he saw what looked like a man, but it's skin was light blue, and it seemed to have fins sticking out of its arms and legs. It had no hair of any kind as well.

"Whoa, was this guy a Zora?" InuYasha then asked. Link by now had gotten over the shock of seeing Zora's Domain frozen like this, and climbed down a nearby metal ladder and joined him.

"Yes, he is. And look!" Link replied, and started pointing to other spots in the ice in the cavern. In those places they all saw more Zoras, frozen solid in the ice. InuYasha drew the Tetsusaiga again and tried to cut into the ice to try to free the Zoras, but the magic sustaining the ice was even stronger in here, and despite repeated swings, InuYasha couldn't put even a scratch in the ice.

"You know, I'm really getting tired of this ice." he finally said as sheathed the sword. Link meanwhile had started to explore more around the cavern, and they followed him. He started up a set of stairs that led up to another room. In that room, they saw a ledge with a huge, fat fish sitting on the ledge. Strangely, it had legs, was wearing a red cloak and strange looking crown, and was completely frozen solid in a strange, red-colored ice!

"What is that?" Shippo then asked.

"That's King Zora, the king of the Zoras and ruler of Zora's Domain." Link replied. Kagome saw there were unlit braziers around the room.

"Let's do something about this freezing cold." she then said. She laid her backpack down on the cavern floor, and got out a big box of matches. She then went around the room and used the matches to light the braziers, Link watching with an impressed look on his face. When she had lit all of them, she laid her backpack down next to one and sat close to it to warm herself up, and InuYasha, Shippo, and Kiara joined her. Miroku and Sango meanwhile, had found a ramp that led up to King Zora's throne. They noticed there was another tunnel passage behind the throne. Miroku was looking at the frozen king with a puzzled look. Link joined them up there.

"What's with this ice? It doesn't look natural." Miroku then said. Sango reached out and touched the ice, and immediately pulled her hand back.

"Ouch! That ice, its hot! What is going on here?" she then asked.

"This is getting more strange by the minute. Let's head down the tunnel." Link then said.

"Where does it lead?" Sango asked.

"It leads to Zora's Fountain. That's where the Zoras' guardian deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu swims. Maybe he might know what happened here." he replied. Link then looked down to where Kagome, InuYasha, Shippo, and Sango's cat demon Kiara were sitting next to one of the now warm and toasty braziers. "You three coming along?"

"I'm not. It's too cold in here. The only place it's warm is next to these things." said Kagome, still wearing the outer layer of InuYasha's clothes.

"Count me out too. I'm not leaving Kagome by herself in a place like this." InuYasha said.

"I guess that makes all three of us. I want to stay right here." Shippo then said.

"Ok then. Miroku, Sango and I will go and see Lord Jabu-Jabu and find out what happened here." Link then said.

"Kiara, stay here and help InuYasha protect Kagome."Sango then ordered. Her, Link, and Miroku then started down the tunnel. The tunnel was very, very short. Link was yet again surprised when they exited into a large lagoon-like area. There was another dock like area, with steps leading up to it. Link had been expecting to see the giant fish next to it that he had gone inside seven years earlier to get the last Spiritual Stone. However, it was not there! They ran up to where Link thought Lord Jabu-Jabu would be. But instead, they found a large iceberg-like platform that led out to several other iceberg platforms floating on the water. It was also snowing here too.

"What the...? Where's Lord Jabu-Jabu?" Link then asked.

"These platforms. They look like they're leading somewhere. Looks like they're leading to a cave entrance over there." Miroku said, pointing at a wall of rock .

"Let's go then." said Link. They all three then began carefully jumping across the ice platforms over to the cave entrance, and entered it.


	13. Secret of the Zora Curse Revealed

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Twelve: _Secret of the Zora Curse Revealed_

The entrance had led into a passage filled with stalagmites and stalactites made of ice, and the floor was covered in snow. Some of the stalactites fell when they got close to them. It was also very, very cold inside the passage.

"I'm glad I changed into my other clothes, its frigid in here." said Sango as they continued on.

"Link is the cold getting to you any?" Miroku then asked him.

"A little bit. As long as we keep moving around, we should be alright." he said. They soon came upon a large cavern that was filled with bats that seemed to be glowing blue!

"What's with those bats? There's hordes and hordes of them!" Sango asked. Suddenly, a realization came to Link.

"Don't let them touch you! In the Fire Temple, InuYasha and I ran across bats that were on fire yet still flying around as if it was nothing. If you touched them, like InuYasha did a few times, you were set on fire by them. It's a good bet that if you touch these bats you get frozen solid momentarily!" he then cautioned. Just then, the bats started to fly toward them!

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted as she threw her giant boomerang at them. It flew through the massive cavern with a low hum and cut a swathe through the bats, but they were so numerous that for every bat cleaved in two by the boomerang, two more replaced it! The boomerang flew back at them, and Sango reached up and caught it. "There's too many of them to get with my boomerang!" she then said as she watched the bat horde continue to fly towards them. It was then that Miroku held up a fist-clenched right hand, the one that was covered up to the forearm with cloth and had prayer beads wrapped around it.

"Get behind me, both of you. Link, this is extremely dangerous, what I'm about to do." He warned. Sango immediately realized what he was planning and did as he said. Link, however hesitated.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. Instead of getting an answer, Link felt a hand on his shoulder as Sango yanked him back behind Miroku. Miroku had now unwrapped the prayer beads.

"Wind Tunnel!" Miroku shouted as he opened up his unwrapped right hand and forearm towards the approaching bats, revealing a black hole in the middle of the hand. Miroku then grabbed his unwrapped forearm with his left hand to steady the aim of his right hand and the hole, and widened his stance to brace himself. As soon as he had opened up his hand to reveal it, the black hole began to suck up everything in front of Miroku (snow, ice, stalagmites and stalactites as well as the bats) like a giant vacuum cleaner! Link was utterly amazed beyond words as he watched the entire, seemingly endless horde of bats get sucked into the monk's right hand. The howling sound of the black hole's intense winds was the only thing they could hear. As soon as the last bat had been sucked in, Miroku speedily re-wrapped the prayer beads around his forearm as he closed his hand back up, re-sealing the black hole.

"How in the name of Din did you do that? Where did you get that power?" Link then asked Miroku.

"The cursed hole in my hand I just used is a generational curse that was placed on my family by Naraku, our arch enemy we told you a little about. Everything that is sucked into the hole in my hand is lost forever. It's a useful weapon, but each year it grows a little bigger and its wind ever more powerful. Eventually, it'll grow so large that the prayer beads won't be able to keep it sealed up, and I'll be sucked into it as well." Miroku then explained.

"You mean, it'll eventually kill you?" Link then asked.

"Yes. The only way it'll go away is if Naraku is killed. Both my grandfather and father died from their own Wind Tunnels eventually sucking them in. Unless Naraku is killed, the same thing will eventually happen to me."

"In that case, we better keep going then and get the rest of the Sages awakened and Ganondorf defeated ASAP, so you all can go back to your own world and get back to fighting him. Let's move." Link then said as he realized what Miroku was getting at. They then began to venture deeper into the cavernous room, when Link suddenly stopped, and started looking around. He noticed some rather odd looking ice sculptures he hadn't noticed before, and strangely they had started moving toward them.

"What is it?" Sango asked.

"Miroku, when you used that 'Wind Tunnel' of yours on the bats, did you see any ice statues get sucked in as well?" Link asked, still scanning around.

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Behind you!" Link shouted, but he was too late. Miroku turned around just in time to see an ice statue begin to breathe a cold wind at him. As soon as it hit him, Miroku was frozen into a block of ice!

"Miroku!" Sango shouted.

"Sango, behind you!" Link shouted as he drew the Master Sword and his shield and started slashing at the statue behind Sango. It had just started to breathe it's breath when Link's sword hit it. It stopped and growled in pain. Link continued slashing at it, taking off hunks of it until he had completely cut it up into little pieces. Sango meanwhile, had started swinging her boomerang at the statue that had frozen Miroku, destroying it in two swipes. She then used the huge boomerang to shatter the ice that Miroku was in. As soon as he was free, Miroku shivered for a moment.

"That was close, I thought I was a goner." he then said. He then noticed a statue sneaking up on Link. "Link, look out!" he shouted as he jumped at the statue and with one swing of his staff, shattered the living statue into thousands of little pieces.

"We better be on our guard from now on." Link said as they continued onward. They found another passage on the other side of the room and found more falling stalactites as they ventured through it. They also came across some ice stalagmite barriers that Miroku busted up using his staff. Soon they came to another large room, but this one had a major hazard in the form a giant rotating ice scythe that was in the middle of the floor! Strangely, there were also several silver colored gems hanging in mid-air around the room, some in the path of the deadly looking ice scythe.

"What the…? What sick mind designed and built this place? This cave can't be natural." Sango wondered as she looked at the slowly rotating ice scythe. Miroku pointed his staff toward the scythe for a moment and closed his eyes.

"There's some kind of strange magic driving that scythe. I can't detect whatever magic it is that's levitating those gems." he then said. Link meanwhile, had started looking around the room, and noticed there was more in the room besides the strange gems and the spinning scythe. He'd noticed another passageway up on a ledge overlooking the ice scythe that was blocked with bars of some kind. He also saw two patches on the walls of what looked to be the same red-colored ice that King Zora appeared to be frozen in.

"Look at these things." Link then said, pointing at the ice patches and the barred up passage way. Miroku put a hand to his chin as he looked at them. Sango meanwhile, had decided to try to do something about the ice scythe. She threw her boomerang at the central spinning shaft of it in the middle of the floor to try and break it, but instead the boomerang only bounced off and back at her.

"We're just going to have to go around and avoid the scythe. My boomerang won't break it." Sango then said after catching the boomerang.

"Sango, try aiming for that barred up entryway up there." Miroku then pointed. Sango threw her giant boomerang again, this time at the entryway. Yet again, it bounced right off and came right back at them, and Sango caught it before it hit them. Link then let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes.

"Great. Just great. One of us is going to have to do it whether we like it or not." Link then said.

"What are you talking about?" Miroku then asked.

"I think one of us is going to have to go around the room and collect those silver gems to get the entryway open. That means stepping right into the path of that scythe to get a few of them." Link then said, as he removed his shield and the Master Sword from his back and laid them on the ground.

"Don't tell me you're going to do it?" Sango then asked in a worried voice.

"I'm afraid so. I've already figured out the right sequence to do it in." Link then said.

"Be careful Link, that scythe looks like it can slice you in two in a heartbeat." Miroku warned.

"I know, now just be quiet for moment so I can concentrate." Link then said, as he watched the scythe for a few moments to familiarize himself with its speed. When he was sure he was ready, he then stepped into the room and began walking in the same direction the scythe was turning to collect the gems, every second or so looking behind him to see how far he was from getting cut in half by one of the scythe's deadly blades. As he worked to collect the gems, a small pot sitting on the floor suddenly magically rose up off the floor and flew at him! Link had no time to dodge it without risking getting caught by the scythe, so he braced himself and let the pot hit him, and it shattered to pieces on his chest. "Unnhh!" he grunted, then continued. After a few moments, he had them all collected, and the doorway opened. Link then followed the scythe back to where he had laid the Master Sword and his shield, picked them back up and put them back on. They all then carefully made their way over to the passageway, as they could not do anything about the ice patches. They went through another tunnel, taking out some more freeze breathing ice statues along the way.

The next room they came across was the biggest one they had found so far. There were several large columns in it, with ice bridges connecting a few of them together. Miroku's eyes focused immediately on a huge dish that sat on one column that had a strange looking blue flame burning on it. Strangely, there were also a few blocks of the strange red ice that they had found King Zora frozen in. There were also more ice statues and a few bats in the room as well.

"Link, you notice that blue flame up there? I'm sensing something strange from it." Miroku then said.

"Yeah. It does look odd. Let's get up to it and see what it is." Link then said.

"Hold on Link. Hiraikotsu!" Sango said as she threw her boomerang again to take care of the bats flying around. There were only a few of them this time, and the boomerang took them out without any problem. They then proceeded to climb up the columns and make their way over to where the strange blue flame was, Link taking care of the ice statues. When they approached the flame, they did not feel any heat from it. Instead, the closer they got to it, the colder the air became!

"What kind of fire is this?" Sango wondered. Miroku's face then lit up.

"Wait a minute. Sango, when you touched that red ice the Zora king was frozen in, it felt hot right?" he then said, looking at her.

"Yes, it did? So?"

"Link, do we have any way of taking a sample of this fire with us? I've got an idea." said Miroku. Link simply reached into his pockets and produced the three bottles he carried with him that him and InuYasha had drank the medicine from before leaving the Fire Temple. They were now empty. Miroku took one, opened it, and then swiped it through the flame, remarkably catching some of it inside. The fire also seemed to be sustaining itself inside the bottle as Miroku closed it up. Link then filled the other two with the strange fire. Looking around, Miroku saw a block of red ice on another column with a large treasure chest in it. He jumped over to the column, walked up to the block, opened the bottle, and poured the cold fire on it. The red ice then began to melt!

"The red ice is melting!" Sango then said as she watched the red ice melt.

"Figures. There was lots of strange stuff in the Forest Temple and Fire Temple." Link said. When the ice finished melting, Miroku used his staff to pry the chest open. Inside was a map of the cavern they were in.

"This will be very useful." Miroku then said, looking at the map, then continuing. "Well, now we know how to unfreeze King Zora. We need to make sure we have at least one of these bottles filled with this fire before we leave this cavern."

"You think this fire will work on those ice patches we saw in the ice scythe room?" Link then asked him.

"It's possible. The only way to find out is to try it." Miroku replied.

"I know we could just go ahead and leave now, but I'd like to explore this cavern completely and leave no stone unturned. We may just find something else we may need." Link then said.

"A wise decision." Miroku agreed, and they made their way back to the room with the ice scythe.

_-_

Kagome had given InuYasha's haori back to him. She was now quite warm and toasty beside the torch. Shippo was sleeping peacefully in her lap, while Kiara was patrolling around the room in her kitten state. InuYasha meanwhile, had gotten up and went exploring inside the now frozen Zora's Domain. He had tried again in vain to free some of the Zoras, and had finally given up at it. He went back up to the throne room and sat back down beside Kagome.

"That damn ice is just too tough. I can't even put a scratch in it." he said.

"Why not use the Wind Scar?" Kagome then asked.

"Are you out of your mind! I'd risk causing this whole damn place to collapse if I accidentally hit a wall with it! Kagome, your brain's broken again. That's a stupid idea." InuYasha snapped back.

"It was just a just a suggestion! Sheesh!" Kagome retorted.

"Feh." said InuYasha. Kagome then looked at the passageway Link, Miroku, and Sango had went through and something else occurred to her.

"InuYasha, they've been gone for a very long time." she then said as InuYasha proceeded to lay down on his back beside her. InuYasha noticed the concern in her voice, and sat back up, looking at the passageway as well.

"Yeah, now that you mention it they have. Why did they leave anyway? I forgot." He then asked her.

"They said they were going to go talk to the Zora god, Lord Jabu-Jabu."

"Something's definitely going on then. It can't take this damn long just to talk to some giant fish or whatever the hell it is. Kagome, I'm going to go check on them. I'll be back shortly." InuYasha then said as he got up.

"Be careful InuYasha!" Kagome then said as he ran up the nearby ramp up to the passageway and entered it. He traveled on through it in seconds. He saw the lagoon and dock area and the floating ice platforms, but there was no sign of Link, Miroku, or Sango. He also had noticed there was no giant fish or creature as he was expecting.

_'Where's this so-called Lord Jabu-Jabu?'_ InuYasha wondered. He then crouched down to the ground and sniffed, and found the scents of their three friends and began following them. When they led him to the ice platforms, he looked out and across them, and saw the cave entrance they had gone into earlier. The puzzle then came together in his mind._'So that's where they went.'_ He then turned around and went back to and into the passage to inform Kagome of what he had found.

"Well?" Kagome asked after he reentered the throne room.

"There's a large lagoon beyond here, but no Lord Jabu-Jabu, just a bunch of floating iceburgs leading to another cave." he said.

"What about the others? Did you find them?"

"I picked up their scents. They jumped across the icebergs and went into the cave. I'm going in after them. You're staying here, because it's still frigidly cold outside. The last thing I need now is you getting sick on me from the cold. Kiara, protect Kagome and Shippo for me while I'm gone." InuYasha then ordered.

Kagome nodded in agreement to his plan. Kiara then transformed into her huge cat state and walked over and curled up next to Kagome and Shippo. Kiara didn't fall asleep however, and started looking around occasionally. InuYasha turned around and went back through the passage to the lagoon, jumped across the platforms to the cave and entered.

_-_

"One, two, three, PUSH!" Link shouted again. All three of them groaned and grunted as they tried to get the massive ice block to move, but to no avail.

The blue fire had worked on the ice patches in the scythe room. There had been more passages behind them, and they were now in another massive room, the biggest one yet. In it were a bunch of little columns that were too high and slick to climb with more of the silver gems on them. The floor was slippery, and Link and Miroku had deduced that the only way to get up the columns to get the gems was to push a massive ice block in the room up to them and climb up on it. The gems were keeping another passageway blocked off. Another flaming dish with the blue fire burning in it was also in the room, but in a raised alcove in a wall. Getting the ice block to move was what they were trying to do at the moment, and they weren't having any success at all.

"Let's face it. This thing isn't going anywhere. This floor is so slippery we can't get enough traction to push it." Sango finally said, panting, as they sat down against the block, beads of sweat running down their faces.

"What do we do now?" Link wondered to himself.

"I could use my Wind Tunnel to try and pull it." said Miroku, glancing at his prayer-bead-laden forearm and covered hand.

"Uh-uh. That's way too dangerous. This floor is very slippery. That hole might get this block moving so fast that you won't be able to get out of its way in time and you'll get crushed against a column or run over by it." Link stated. Miroku then sighed and said:

"Yes, you're right. This is a big problem then." It was then that they heard footsteps coming from the passage they had used to enter the room. "Somebody's coming." They all jumped up and readied their weapons.

"Link, Miroku, Sango. Where the hell are you?" they heard a familiar voice say from the passage.

"InuYasha, is that you?" Sango suddenly said, putting her boomerang back over her shoulder. Link resheathed the Master Sword and his shield, and Miroku also lowered his staff. InuYasha then walked out of the passage and joined them.

"I can't leave you guys alone for a second can I? You've been worrying Kagome to death. What the hell are you all doing in this cave anyway?" he then asked them in an aggravated voice.

"Getting the tools we need to thaw the Zora king, for one thing." said Miroku.

"And looking to see if we can find anything else useful in here." Link finished.

"Feh. What's thawing that big fish out gonna do to help us?" InuYasha then asked. Link rolled his eyes and sighed.

"InuYasha, you're so narrow minded its unbelievable. _Everything_ has to be explained to you. King Zora will probably know the story about what's happened here, and be able to tell us how to get the gate to the Water Temple open." he then said.

"Have you gotten then what we need to unfreeze him?" InuYasha then asked.

"Yes, but we're not done here yet. As I said, we're exploring every part of this cavern to make sure we don't miss anything useful in it. You've arrived just in time. We need some help with this ice block." Link then said, then explaining to InuYasha why they needed to use it to collect the gems. "So, you think you can help us push this thing?" Link finished.

"This slippery floor's a big problem, but let me try something." InuYasha then said. He drew the Tetsusaiga, the sword transforming as soon as he pulled it out, and raised it up with the tip pointing down. He then brought it down and tried to get the tip to dig into the ice. It worked. He got the tip to bite into the ice about two to three inches. He then extracted it from the floor. "It'll work then. We'll use my sword as an anchor to push against and we'll push together. Which way we going with it first?"

Link then surveyed the room, figuring out the sequence they needed to do this in to get the gems without pushing the ice block into a wall to where they couldn't move it anymore.

"This way." he then said, pointing.

"Good." said InuYasha. They walked up the side of the block they needed to push to get it to move in the direction Link wanted it to go. InuYasha stuck the Tetsusaiga into the floor, and they all then put their backs against the block and put their hands on the Tetsusaiga.

"One…two…three…PUSH!" Miroku shouted. They all then grunted and groaned, pushing with their arms as hard as they could on the Tetsusaiga's hilt and blade. This time, thanks to InuYasha's incredible physical strength, they managed to get the block to slide easily. It slid away from them and thumped into the column Link had pointed toward. Link then climbed up onto the block, reached up, and grabbed the gem. He then jumped down and they resumed pushing the block to the other parts of the room where the gems were. They also pushed it close to the alcove with the blue fire dish in it so Link could refill the bottles. Everybody, except InuYasha, was exhausted when they finally pushed the block to the previously barred passageway.

"Phew! I don't think I've ever been this exhausted before." Sango then said as her, Link, and Miroku plopped down on the floor with their backs to the ice block.

"That's the problem with you pathetic humans. You ain't got any stamina. Seems like Hylians aren't that different as well. That wasn't a lot of work at all." InuYasha said, holding Tetsusaiga over his shoulder.

"InuYasha, we Hylians may not have much more physical strength than humans, but our magical abilities are far, far stronger. That's why the Master Sword is so powerful, it's magically augmented. Even the lowliest mages who served the Royal Family had powers far exceeding Kagome's arrows, while just a few of the most powerful mages could bring down normal armies numbering in the thousands. Kagome's purification magic though is unlike anything I've ever seen." Link then said in response.

InuYasha just simply let out a "Keh" and then sat down with them and started examining the Tetsusaiga to make sure it hadn't been damaged while they had used it as an anchor to push on. They rested for ten minutes, then got up and entered the newly opened passage. On through they found another ice statue.

"InuYasha, be care-" Link started to say, but he was too late. Without thinking, InuYasha ran up to destroy it and promptly got frozen in a block of ice. Miroku destroyed the statue while Sango freed InuYasha with her boomerang.

"You guys could've warned me about that!" InuYasha then said.

"We started to, but you went after it before we could finish." Link then said.

"Keh." They then continued on and found a barrier composed of the same red colored ice as before. A confused look came to InuYasha's face when he saw Link use a bottle of the blue fire to melt it. He shrugged, and they continued on up to a strange door in the back wall of the passage. What they found on the other side left them scratching their heads.

The room they now found themselves in was not that large. The floor was covered in snow and had ice crystals sticking out of it, but that's not what had them confused. What was confusing them were the walls and ceiling. The walls were making it seem as if they had stepped out into open space. The walls and ceiling instead looked like the night sky, and they could see what looked like galaxies. InuYasha took one step forward, and they were all snapped back to reality when a pack of white furred wolves leapt out of the snow drifts in front of them and attacked!

Sango didn't have time to get her boomerang off her back. She reached into her kimono and unsheathed the katana she kept at her side while in her battle suit to fend off the claw that was swung at her face. Tetsusaiga remained in its sheath as InuYasha began laying waste with his claws to a group of four wolves that had jumped on him. Miroku had started swinging his staff like a baseball bat while Link used moves he learned in the Forest Temple to bring them down relatively quick. A wolf jumped at Miroku's face, but was stopped by a staff blow to the ribs, knocking it off its trajectory and into the snow. Since Sango was not prepared to use her sword for this battle, she got bit in the arm by one as she prevented it from going to her throat. She then cut it down with her katana. In under a minute, all the wolves lay dead in the snow. Sango gripped her bleeding forearm and tore some of the cloth off her kimono to wrap up the bite mark. Miroku ran over to her.

"Sango, you alright?" he asked her in a concerned voice.

"It's not that bad. I…" Sango started to say, but trailed off when she felt a hand caressing her right butt cheek. POW! Miroku was now on the ground, one of his eyes swollen shut already from a powerful right hand from Sango. He was also unconscious. Sango's face was red with rage and she looked ready to tear someone to pieces. Link and InuYasha just sighed heavily, and turned around. A flash of light brought in a large iron-bound chest at the far end of the room. Link and InuYasha then walked up to it. InuYasha kicked it open, and Link lifted out two pairs of peculiar looking boots.

"What's with these things?" Link asked as he stared at them. They both looked like the boots he wore on his feet, but the soles of them seemed to be glowing. InuYasha was about to say something too, when the door to the room opened and suddenly Sheik walked in. They all turned around in shock.

"We meet again." Sheik said, glancing over at Mirkou as he started to come to and pick himself up off the floor. He then continued. "If the reason you all came here was to meet the Zoras, your efforts were wasted. This is all there is. As you all saw, all the Zoras, save one, are now sealed under this impenetrable ice sheet."

"You managed to free one of them? How the hell did you do that? My Tetsusaiga was completely useless against that ice." InuYasha asked him surprised.

"There are other ways to solve problems than brute force. The one I managed to free was the Zora princess. However, right after I freed her, she set off for the Water Temple." Sheik then replied.

"Have you seen Lake Hylia?" Link then asked.

"I have. That is where the Water Temple is located. Miroku, you shall be the one to accompany Link into the Water Temple. Your wisdom and your Wind Tunnel will be of great help to Link in it."

"Sheik, do you have any idea how this all happened in the first place?" Miroku then asked.

"When Ganondorf took over, evil power began to radiate from all the temples, the Water Temple included. The monster that awakened in the Water Temple brought with it an evil curse. That curse over the course of seven years gradually turned Zora's Domain into the frozen state it is in now, as well as slowly drained all the water out of Lake Hylia. The only way to get the ice to start melting is to destroy the monster in the Water Temple. Doing so will also allow Lake Hylia to fill back up with water." he then explained.

"What about these boots we found?" Link then asked, showing them to Sheik.

"Those boots will be needed in the Water Temple as well. Many parts of it are completely flooded and you will not be able to enter them unless you can walk on the floor of those flooded rooms. Those boots will allow you to do that." Sheik walked up and took one of the boots from Link and walked over to a very deep hole full of water in the floor behind the chest the boots had been in. The others watched as Sheik dipped the boot into the water. As soon as the water touched it, the sole of it turned to a heavy metal. Sheik then pulled boot back out and the sole returned to normal. "These boots will automatically become heavier for you as soon as you enter water with them, sinking you to the bottom and allowing you to walk around. Besides the boots Link, you and Miroku will also need some new clothing the Zora king will gladly give you if you ask him after you've thawed him out." Sheik then finished, handing the boot back to Link. "Now, I'll see you all again soon."

"Hey wait!" Sango said, and started to run up to him, but Sheik had already thrown his flash bang to the ground and was gone.

"You know, that Sheik is really starting to get on my nerves." InuYasha said.

"The Sheikah, the race of people Sheik's of, are naturally like that. Don't misjudge them however. The Sheikah were one of the biggest allies of the Royal Family of Hyrule, and served the Family as personal guardians. Now, I want to test these boots." Link said, glancing over at the water hole Sheik had tested the boot in.


	14. Walking Underwater

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Thirteen: _Walking Underwater_

Link put on a pair of the magic boots, then tossed Miroku the other pair.

"Put 'em on." He said. Miroku did so as Link took a deep breath and jumped into the water hole. Instantly, the soles transformed on the boots and Link sank to the bottom of the hole. In front of him stood a door. Instead of opening it up immediately, Link decided to try something. He tapped his feet-and the boots-together. Instantly, the soles on the boots changed back, and Link was able to float again. He tapped his feet together again, and the soles changed back to metal. He was just reaching to open the door when he started choking. He was starting to drown! Link immediately tapped the boots together again and swam hurriedly back up to the surface.

"Blah!" Link shouted and then started breathing heavily as he treaded water and caught his breath.

"Forget you needed to come up for air? What was down there?" InuYasha asked with a smirk. Link ignored his insult and took a few more big breaths before replying.

"Our way…out of here…is down there…,an unlocked door." Link said in between gasps. He finally got his breath back, and continued. "Miroku, the boots can be turned 'on' and 'off' in the water just by simply tapping your feet together while wearing the boots." Link said as he climbed back out. Miroku then jumped into the hole and repeated Link's experiment with the boots. He then swam back to the surface.

"Very interesting Link. Come on. I've got the door open." Miroku then said, before reactivating the boots and walking through the door on the bottom. Link followed him, while InuYasha and Sango jumped in and swam through. On the other side of the door was a ramp leading out of the water and into a passage that led back to the cave entrance.

_-_

Kagome had been studying her Algebra book when she started to hear footsteps coming from the passageway. Kiara got up and looked expectantly at the passage, having already smelled who it was. Shippo was still sound asleep.

"Guys, you made it back!" Kagome said excitedly as InuYasha, Miroku, and Sango walked down the ramp and joined her. Shippo then woke up.

"You all are okay!" he shouted. Link meanwhile, stood beside King Zora with one of the bottles in his hand.

"What's Link getting ready to do?" Kagome then asked.

"Thaw the king out." InuYasha said gruffly as Link opened the bottle and poured the blue fire on the red ice. Kagome watched in amazement as the red ice slowly melted. King Zora's eyes fluttered open and he saw Link staring at him. Link backflipped off the throne and landed where the others were. He then knelt before the Zora king. The others, except InuYasha, followed suit. King Zora shook his head a moment to clear his thoughts, then looked down at them.

"You may rise. Was it you who freed me from that ice?"

"Yes, your highness. You may not remember me, but I am the green-clothed Hylian child who saved Princess Ruto those seven years ago and brought her back here. I have grown as you can see. My name is Link. We've come to lift the curse that has left your realm in this unfortunate state." Link said as he then introduced the others to King Zora.

"Now that that's outta the way, how the hell do we get into the Water Temple so we can kill whatever monster is in there?" InuYasha then asked rudely. WHAP! Miroku smacked him across the head with his staff, earning a growl.

"InuYasha, you are in the presence of royalty! Act like it." Miroku chastised him, earning another snarl from InuYasha. Miroku then spoke up at the king. "Please forgive InuYasha of his words, he doesn't spend that much time around royalty."

"No offense taken." King Zora replied stately, then continued. "To enter the Water Temple, there is a carving above the door that must be pulled out. Do any of you have a grappling hook that could latch on to it?"

"I do." said Link.

"Much of the Water Temple is flooded as well. You'll need the magic boots, which I see that Link and Miroku, already have. Approach me, you'll also need these." the king said, then reaching over and opening a box that was beside him as Link and Miroku walked up to the throne. Out of the box, King Zora pulled out a pair of blue colored tunics and hats that looked like blue colored versions of Link's clothes, and handed them over. "I grant you these clothes. They are magical and allow you to stay underwater for extended lengths of time without breathing. If you are going to clear the Water Temple of this curse, you'll have to spend great lengths of time walking on the bottom of completely flooded rooms, and these clothes will allow you to do that without drowning. We Zora, being evolved fish, have no need of such things, but we keep them around for those rare occasions we decide or need to let non-Zora enter the Temple, such as the case here. Now I have a question for you."

"What is it?" Kagome then asked.

"Where is Princess Ruto? I fear for her safety again."

"A young man named Sheik managed to free her from the ice, and she immediately left for the Temple." Link explained.

"I see. In the years since Ganondorf came and we first learned of the curse, she has journeyed into the Water Temple numerous times to try and lift the curse. Each time she failed. She said that what had stopped her each time were strange locks that have appeared on many of the doors in the temple, including the one that leads to the inner-sanctum. Those locks are probably still there." the King then said.

"She'll need our help then. King Zora, this curse shall be lifted, I give you my word. Miroku, everybody, let's go." Link then stated formally. They then turned to leave.

"Hold on a minute. Don't you want to test the tunics out first? I certainly would if I were you." King Zora then said to stop them.

"Where can we do that?" Miroku then asked.

"Zora's Fountain, where you have just come from. The water there is over 70 feet deep. Perfect place to test your new clothes."

"How do you know they still work?" InuYasha asked suspiciously.

"Three years ago, Sheik came by wanting to enter the Water Temple himself to see if he could do anything. I let him borrow the same tunic I've given to Link. The one Miroku has has never been used yet. Don't worry and put your faith in them." King Zora finished. Link and Miroku then left the throne room and went to another area of the cavern to change.

When they returned, Link didn't look much different, save for his blue clothing. Miroku however was a different story. The blue shirt and white under coverings looked distinctly out of place on him. He looked strikingly similar to how Link now looked, and almost could have passed off as Link's brother. What marked him and Link apart however, were his staff, his black hair, and his covered and bead-bound forearm. Sango and Kagome smirked at him.

"This just isn't me." Miroku said in a defeated voice as he handed his normal robes to Sango.

"A small price to pay to help me out, Miroku, but it is necessary." said Link.

"Cheer up Miroku. This new look has freshened you up. In my era, people don't like to wear the same clothes everyday." Kagome then said with a slight smile.

"Now that you two have changed, let's get this over with." InuYasha said gruffly then as everybody save Kagome, Shippo and King Zora then made their way back to the lagoon, Zora's Fountain. Walking up to the altar where he had once entered Lord Jabu-Jabu, Link took a deep breath, and then jumped into the water. Miroku said a brief prayer before jumping in as well.

The boots transformed immediately and they both began to sink, both of them holding their breaths. They looked down, and saw the bottom was a long, long way down. Miroku looked over at Link and saw that he was very blurry looking. Link couldn't hold his breath anymore and let it out. He was expecting to have deactivate the boots and swim back up, but then when his body automatically attempted to inhale again, the strangest thing happened. Instead of water, Link inhaled air! Link was completely flabbergasted at this. He looked over, and saw that Miroku had the same look on his face as well. They both continued to sink, still in shock at being able to breathe normally.

On the surface meanwhile, InuYasha was fidgety. He was afraid that Miroku and Link were not going to come back up.

'_How in the hell am I going to get them out of there if I have to go in there and rescue them?'_ InuYasha thought.

"You ready for me to dive in and get them? Those tunics are probably not working." he finally said as both him and Sango continued to look into the water. BAM! InuYasha was now on the ground, his head spinning from a hard smack by Sango's boomerang.

"Don't think things like that! If I could, I'd sit you right now ten times in a row for saying that! Unfortunately, that rosary doesn't respond to me, so a good whack from the Hiraikotsu will have to do." Sango then said angrily at him. InuYasha just growled in response and sat up, his vision still hazy.

Back in the lagoon, Link and Miroku were just now reaching the bottom of it, and much to Miroku's delight, there were rupees scattered around in the soft dirt. They both started to walk around on the bottom, testing more thoroughly how the boots felt in this environment. The boots felt like they did out of the water, but due to the underwater environment, Link and Miroku's movements were understandably restricted somewhat. They both started picking up the rupees.

Link then tried to speak, but instead of actual words, only incoherent and inaudible gurgling sounds came out, causing Miroku to look at him rather oddly. Link then pointed toward Miroku, then himself and then up toward the surface, twiddling his fingers to mimic kicking legs. Miroku got the signed message and tapped as feet together as Link did, and they began to swim back to the surface.

When their heads broke the surface, a strange scene was before them. InuYasha lay on the ground unconscious, Sango wielding her boomerang in a whacking stance, waiting to see if he would stir again.

"Sango, what happened?" Link then asked.

"He was getting ready to jump in and drag you two back up. He seriously thought you two were dead by now. I told him to just wait a minute, but he wouldn't listen and was about to jump in. I bashed him over the head to stop him, but he was persistent, so I decided to do the stopping for him." she replied in an agitated voice.

"Why does that not surprise me?" said Miroku sighly as he climbed out, Link following him.

"How did the clothes work?" Sango then asked.

"They do their job well. Somehow, they allow you to breathe normally while underwater." Miroku said.

"That part takes a little getting used to. Anyway, I think it's high time we bed down for the night. We leave for Lake Hylia in the morning. Miroku, we need to work out a system of hand signals to use to communicate during the trek tomorrow, since we can't talk normally underwater, even with the clothes." Link then said.

"Understood. Let's go and get some sleep now." Miroku then said as they all headed back to the throne room, Sango carrying a still unconscious InuYasha. Kagome had set up camp next to the brazier she was still sitting next too. King Zora did not object at all to them bedding up in his throne room. He knew they all had a long day of traveling to Lake Hylia tomorrow.

_-_

They were now back at Lake Hylia looking at the still submerged entrance to the Water Temple. Link was looking at the carving above the door.

"Well, you think the Hookshot can dig into it?" Miroku asked.

"It doesn't look it could at first glance, but with things like this, looks are usually deceiving." Link said. He jumped into the water and deactivated the boots so he could swim normally, and swam over to the carving, which was just a few feet below the surface. He swam down to it and grabbed it. Amazingly, he found the statue wasn't made of stone, but clay seemingly. He swam back to shore and pulled his Hookshot from the saddle bag they'd brought down. He then went back in, boots activated this time, and walked up to a spot in front of the iron gates and under the statue. He pointed the Hookshot at the statue, and fired. The Hookshot actually dug into the soft clay statue and yanked it out. As it let go of the statue, the statue started to float up to the surface! Meanwhile, a harsh metallic grinding noise was then heard, and the gate slid open with a metallic groan. Link then went back up to the surface, smiling after he emerged and while treading water.

"Gate's open. Let's go Miroku." he said. Miroku nodded and joined him.

"We'll be waiting here." Sango said.

"Find that damn monster, kill it, get the medallion, and get outta there." InuYasha then said. With that, Link and Miroku then sank back down to the Water Temple entrance and went in.

_-_

_Author's Note: I did a very, very, slight revision. This is not the original version of this chapter._


	15. The Wrath of Dark Link, Part I

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Fourteen: _The Wrath of Dark Link, Part I_

Link and Miroku's heads broke above the surface of the water. Beyond the Water Temple entrance had been a small cave that first led down a good ways, then up to an underground cavern. They climbed out into what appeared to be a small alcove and walked up to a ledge. Both of them were intrigued by what they saw.

They were now looking into a massive cavern, flooded with water up to the ledge they were standing on. In the center of the cavern, rising up from the submerged floor to the ceiling, was a building like structure three stories high with three levels. The water was up to the third level. Off to the left was another alcove, higher up, that had a strange looking plaque of the Triforce crest on the wall in it. Besides the Triforce crest, the plaque also had what appeared to Miroku to be strange writing on it. In other parts of the cavern, they both saw doors embedded in the walls that were at the same levels as the floors of the center building-like structure, all of them chained and locked, some also submerged. There were more alcoves too, some submerged, some not. Also in places were some strange looking blocks that looked to have targets drawn on them. There were also a few of the same spider monsters as before, but they hadn't noticed them yet. Miroku was squinting at the strange plaque in the alcove to the left.

"Link, that plaque has some strange writing on it. I've never seen writing like that." he then said in a whisper to keep from alerting the spider monsters. Link looked over at the plaque too.

"You can't recognize or read it because its written in Hylian, the native writing of this land. I can't read it from here though, it's too far away." Link then replied, just as quietly. Miroku then looked around some more.

"All the doors are locked, so we've got to find keys. Link what do you make of the target blocks?" Miroku then asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute." Link said, as he reached behind his back and pulled out his bow from behind the Master Sword's sheath. Link had decided to bring his bow with him this time. Him and InuYasha had gotten lucky in the Fire Temple and hadn't really needed to be able to shoot stuff, but he hadn't figured that trend would last. He had been proven correct. Link reached back to his quiver, also in the same spot, and nocked an arrow, taking aim at the spider monster. His shot was deadly accurate, the arrow splitting and bursting the monster's single eyeball before eviscerating it and coming out the rear end of it. The now wrecked corpse fell into the water, sinking to the bottom. Putting his bow away, Link now got out the Hookshot, and aimed at a target block that was embedded in the wall of the center building in front of them. He fired, and the Hookshot dug in, pulling Link over to the other side. Miroku then jumped into the water and swam over to join him. They then walked around to the other side of the structure and saw the largest alcove they had seen yet. It was constructed in the same motif as the center building. What set it apart however, was a large snake statue that had another target block in it. Behind it was a door that wasn't chained and locked. The whole thing was very far away however. Link again took aim with the Hookshot, and fired. This time however, the Hookshot could not reach it.

"Your contraption won't reach it! How are we going to get over there?" Miroku then asked.

"We'll just have to take another route at the moment. All the doors on this level here are locked, so let's jump in the water and explore some of the flooded alcoves on the bottom." With that, Link put up the Hookshot and he and Miroku then jumped into the water and used the boots to sink down to the bottom. Down there, they then explored some more. There were four passages at the bottom. One was sealed up with a huge block that Link believed could be moved. The passage and block however were raised up above the floor, with no way to reach it. There was a platform it seemed for it floating at the surface, so Link theorized they were going to have figure out a way to drain the water. Another one led to a room with a faraway locked door, and another led to a dead end with a cracked up floor. On the way out of that passage they noticed some spiked ball looking monsters rolling at them. Link motioned to Miroku that he'd handle this.

Link pulled out the Hookshot again and aimed at one creature, and fired. The Hookshot got the spikes to retract. Link shot the other one and the same happened. He shot them both one more time, and this time the rock creatures broke apart. Link then nodded and they made their way toward the last passage, this one with a pair of braziers outside it. Of course, the braziers were unlit since they were currently underwater. They entered the passage and went down a hallway, turned a couple of corners, and they both gasped in unison.

Standing in the room they had just entered, was a young and very beautiful Zora woman. However, she wasn't just any ordinary Zora woman. Link again gasped. This was Princess Ruto! Princess Ruto looked surprised herself. She motioned up toward the ceiling, and Link and Miroku looked up. There was a hole in the ceiling. Ruto then pointed at both Link and Miroku, then herself, then up at the hole. She then began to swim up through the hole. Link nodded and motioned at Miroku to follow him and they then began to follow her. Princess Ruto swam up through another room, and through another hole before finally reaching the surface of the water. She climbed out through the floor of another room, one that had another strange plaque on the wall in it. The plaque was a carbon copy of the one they'd seen in the alcove. Link was the next to climb out, Miroku being last.

"Link, I can't believe it's you! Where have you been for these seven years? You've been a poor man to keep me waiting like this." Princess Ruto then scolded gently.

"It's a long story that I'm afraid we don't have time for. All I'll say is that I wasn't away for so long by will. I was _confined_ for awhile." Link then said. Miroku then walked up to Ruto.

"I am Miroku, one of the prophesied Allies who've come to help Link and the Sages bring down Ganondorf. It's an honor to meet you, Princess." He then knelt before her and took one of her hands in his.

_'Oh no. Here we go. Should I stop him or not? Nah. Brain damage I guess is the only way he'll learn.'_ Link then thought grimly with a sigh, already knowing what was going to happen. Miroku continued.

"My Princess, if you would just grant me one wish. I'd very much like you to bear my child." A look of utter shock first came to Princess Ruto's face, then one of calm. She then gently pulled her hand out of his.

"Sir," Ruto then started, warmly. SMACK! SMACK! Miroku was now laying on the floor, seeing stars, his entire face red from Ruto's handprints. Ruto then continued, coldly: "my answer is no. I will not be your whore." Ruto then looked over at Link. "Are you absolutely sure he's one of the Allies? His character does not suggest it." Link then sighed.

"He may seem like nothing more than an amorous womanizer, but trust me, his heart's in the right place. He's laid his life on the line for his friends, the other Allies, numerous times. I believe he acts like that because of a curse that's placed on him that will eventually kill him unless he kills the one who placed it. From what his friends say, he hits up on women he meets to ensure he'll have an heir to continue his fight in case the curse kills him." Link explained, then explained to Princess Ruto about Miroku's Wind Tunnel. She then nodded.

"Well, I can see then a little bit why he's like that, but that's still no excuse for his actions." Princess Ruto then gave Miroku one more look that could kill, then turned back to Link as Miroku started to pick himself up off the floor. "Anyway, Link, I'm sure you remember the promises we made to each other in Zora's Fountain do you?" Now it was Link who was aghast, and it was Miroku's turn to smirk.

"Link, I never knew you to be the type. Looks like you win, you got to her first." Miroku then said with a smile. Link's face then went red with rage and he stomped up to Miroku. WHUMP! Miroku's eyes narrowed in pain and he dropped to the floor clutching at his groin, and began to make whining sounds from the extreme pain of Link's knee to his sweet spot. Ruto giggled.

"How DARE you think such a thing! You are more dirty minded than I first thought! That was seven years ago, when we were both still kids for Farore's sake!" Link then yelled at him with barely contained rage. He then turned back to Ruto. "You can't be serious can you?" he then pleaded at her.

"I'm dead serious, Link, but now is not the time to finalize those vows. There are more pressing matters to discuss. You've seen Zora's Domain already, right?" Ruto then said with a serious tone to her voice.

"Yes, we have." Link replied.

"Good. As Princess of the Zoras and also as your future wife, I request that you and your friend here help me destroy the monster in this Temple and save Zora's Domain." Link nodded, and Ruto then turned to the strange plaque. Miroku was now again starting to get back up. "You see one of these in an alcove to your left as you came in here?" Ruto then asked.

"Yes, Princess, we did. It's got writing on it that I've never seen before." Miroku then said.

"These plaques are what control the water level here in the Temple. Link, do you have any kind of musical instrument on you?" Ruto then asked.

"I got this. The instrument to use too." Link then said as he got out the Ocarina of Time. Ruto nodded.

"Good. I'm going on ahead to the inner sanctum of the Temple to try and enter it again. I'll be waiting for you." Ruto then said as she jumped back into the floor hole and the water, and swam off. Miroku then looked down at where she had gone.

"What did I say to her? Most women are quick to accept my offer." he then said. Link shot him a hard look, then walked over to the plaque.

"You forget that she's royalty. King Zora, her father, schooled her very thoroughly on the kind of person she was to choose to be her husband. You better start praying that I can convince her later not to tell her father about what you asked her for, otherwise as soon as we get back to Zora's Domain, King Zora's going to put your disembodied head on his throne." Link then said over his shoulder to Miroku in a voice as cold and emotionless as Sesshomaru's. Miroku sighed and then walked up to where Link was standing in front of the plaque.

"Well, what does it say?" he then asked. Link looked for a minute.

"It says: _Those who wish to open the way forward under the lake must play the song of the Royal Family._" Link then said. Link then put the Ocarina of Time to his mouth and played the same song he had played to part the waterfall at Zora's Domain. They then heard the sound of flowing water. Miroku then turned and saw the water slowly draining from the hole. They both then jumped back down into the hole. The water drained completely. They went back out into the main chamber and saw it was dry too. The next few minutes were spent getting keys, but they both had to work for them.

They came back out into the main chamber and walked up to the only locked door on the bottom, one that led into the central structure. Unlocking it, they found a bridge inside over a bed of spikes, and several platforms sticking out of the walls, and more target blocks. One was positioned such that Link could shoot it then grab the edge. Link fired the Hookshot, and grabbed the ledge just as it disengaged. He then pulled himself up and saw another plaque.

"Miroku, get ready, I think I'm about to raise water again." Link yelled down at him, then turned and played the song on the Ocarina again. The water level rose up, and the platform Miroku was standing on rose up with it, revealing another path beneath it. They both floated down into it, carefully avoiding the spikes, and came across a roomful of enemies. Link started taking them out easily with the Hookshot. Miroku however, was having some trouble, the water still impeding his movements as he tried to swing his staff. They did eventually kill the enemies, another key being their reward. They swam back to the surface inside the structure, then exited back into the main chamber, the water now at the second level.

They walked around on the second tier of the structure and found another locked door. Beyond it was a room with a crystal switch and a column of water shooting up from the floor below a hole in the ceiling. Miroku walked up and hit the switch with his staff. The switch let out a CLING as it activated and then the sounds of a ticking timer were heard. They turned and saw the water column rising up into the ceiling.

"My, my, what strange contraptions we're finding. Link were other contraptions like this in the Fire Temple and Forest Temple?" Miroku then asked.

"Yes there were. All these temples I'm afraid are going to be full of such strange stuff as this." Link replied. Just then, the ticking got faster then stopped, and the switch deactivated, lowering the water column back down. However, it didn't come down empty. A spider monster was lowered down with it too! Miroku ran up and bashed the spider's brains in with his staff. Meanwhile, Link had gotten out his bow and stepped onto the water column, Miroku joining him. Link then shot the crystal switch and they both rode the water column up into the next room. Beyond the door in it, they found themselves now standing in the alcove they first saw when they entered.

"I don't think we're supposed to raise the water again yet." Link said, and he jumped back down into the water two stories below. Miroku was a little hesitant. Link surfaced and looked up at him. "Don't be afraid Miroku, it won't hurt. Come on down." he said. Miroku then said a brief prayer and jumped as well. He landed in the water and wasn't injured to his relief. "Follow me, I think I know where to go next." Link then said after Miroku surfaced again.

"Where we going now?" Miroku asked.

"There's a certain wall I noticed in the second room we followed Princess Ruto up through. It looked weak. I wonder if we can access it now?" Link wondered as he reactivated the boots and sank back down, Miroku following. They went back to where they first found Princess Ruto, and floated up. This time they surfaced in the room just above. Miroku now saw what Link was talking about. The wall they were facing as they climbed out was cracked. Link opened a leather bag he had on his belt on pulled out a piece of flint, a rock, and another explosive like he had used in the Fire Temple. He walked over to the wall, and set the explosive down. He used the flint and rock to light the fuse. "Into the water, now!" he then shouted as he jumped in. Miroku saw how quickly the fuse was burning and hurriedly jumped in as well. BANG! The explosive went off with the sound of a grenade, and they both then climbed out. There was nicely sized hole in the wall now, with a small chest beyond. Inside the chest was another key, and they made their way back out, and back up to the alcove. Now Link raised the water level again with the Ocarina. The water rose back up to where it was when they first entered. They made their way over and unlocked the previously locked door on the top level. Upon seeing the room behind, Link let out a sigh.

"Oh, great. Just great." Link then said in a deflated voice, putting a hand over his eyes and shaking his head. Miroku looked very confused at the scene before them. The room they were now in was huge. In front of them was a slanted waterfall. Platforms were appearing at the top of it and slowly sliding down the face of the waterfall, disappearing at the base of it, then reappearing again at the top. Hookshot targets were embedded in each of the platforms. At the top of the waterfall was a ledge with another hookshot target, with another locked door beyond.

"Link, how is this happening?" Miroku then asked, his eyes bugging out.

"Powerful magic that's what. We're going to have Hookshot our way up these platforms. You're going to have hold on to me when I aim and shoot. As soon as we reach a ledge you're going to have grab hold and pull yourself up. We'll have to be quick about it too, since the platforms are still gonna be moving as we do this." Link then said, sighing. Miroku frowned.

"Whoever built this place sure had a twisted mind." he then said.

"The Zora built the Water Temple this way to make it extremely hard for would-be thieves to make it out of here alive. Come on. I don't want to have to do this any more than you do, but it's the only way forward. We still haven't found the treasure of this Temple nor the key to the monster's lair." Link then said, as he walked up to the base of the waterfall, Miroku following. Miroku sighed and put an arm around Link as he aimed the hookshot at the lowest platform that was descending. Link fired, and they were both hoisted up. Link grabbed on with arms, Miroku getting a firm grip with his free hand before letting go. They both then pulled themselves up onto the platform. Miroku grabbed onto Link again as Link aimed once more. They repeated this until they were finally at the top and in front of the door.

"I hope we don't have to do that again." Miroku said, his face a little red from embarrassment.

"So do I." Link seconded. They unlocked the door and proceeded on.

The next room was filled with rising and falling dragon statues that they both had to climb up and over in sequence to get to another door. The large hall at the end of the statues had a strange moving blob moving around in front of the locked door. Miroku started for it to kill it when Link stopped him.

"Don't get close to it, it'll try to eat your staff or your clothes. InuYasha and I ran into one in the Fire Temple and it almost ate his Tetsusaiga. I killed it before it swallowed it though. Let me handle it." he said. Link then took out his bow and shot the creature two times, the blob then collapsing and wasting away into nothing. Approaching the door and unlocking it, they stepped through.

It seemed as if they had stepped outside. Everything was lit as if the sun was shining through the mist that blocked its path to the ankle deep water. They stood in a vast emptiness, a field with water in it that stretched as far as the eye could see. The door they had walked through seemed as if it stood alone, nothing behind it. Across from them stood a small patch of land with a dead tree in the middle, and beyond a barred door. The two trudged through the water to the barred door on the other side.

"It's barred shut, there's no way through. We'll have to go back." Link said. The pair turned around to see a shadowy figure standing next to the dead tree. Link squinted to get a better look. The figure then took full form. He was garbed in a black tunic, with white stockings underneath, black gauntlets were on his hands, and boots on his feet. A parted shock of golden hair was covered by a long black elvish hat. Eyes with red irises looked out upon them with scorn and hate. Link's eyes nearly rolled out of his head, and Miroku's jaw dropped to the floor. "It's me!" Link said.

"Is it an illusion? Let's find out!" Miroku shouted, charging Link's doppelganger. In a flash, a black bladed Master Sword came out and deflected the monk's attack. "No, it's not a-" He was cut off when he received a knee to the gut. Miroku fell to his knees, gasping for breath when an elbow came down hard on his head, driving him to the sand next to the tree and knocking him out cold. The Dark Link looked up at Link with his face twisted in a snarl.

"I've wondered what it would be like to fight my other half. You being sealed for seven years set me loose. Now the time has come for me to take your place, destroy Ganondorf and then the whole world!" Plucking his shield off his back, Dark Link charged.

_Author's Note:_

_Enjoying this story so far? Check out and review my new InuYasha-only fic being co-written with my brother, Gwydon, named "Futuristic Warrior From the Past", also here at Fanfiction. Chapters 1-5 currently up, chapter 6 coming soon!_ _Don't worry! I'll still continue to update this one!_ - _Patriot1776_


	16. The Wrath of Dark Link, Part II

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Fifteen: _The Wrath of Dark Link, Part II_

Link barely had time to draw the Master Sword by the time Dark Link started for him. But he was quite surprised when Dark Link abruptly stopped. He then slowly started to walk around Link in a circle, watching. Confused, Link opened up and attacked. Dark Link seemed to see it coming, and quickly parried each blow with an expertly timed swing of his Dark Master Sword. To Link, it felt as if he was hammering a piece of iron with a hammer, making his hand and forearm twinge in pain. Link continued with slashes and snuck in a stab. Again Dark Link seemed to see it coming and sidestepped it. Then Link began to notice something. As Dark Link stepped aside, grabbed his arm, and socked him in the face, Link could sense his actions too and worked to prepare for it. The blow still blackened his eye and bloodied his eyebrow, but he was far from finished. He then started attacking Dark Link, but did his best to try to hide his thoughts. As Dark Link stopped the blows, he started to laugh.

"It is of no use. I know you just as well as you do. Anything you try I will know it." Dark Link said, his voice mocking Link. Furious now, Link started attacking again with a renewed vigor. It was to no avail, Dark Link again stopped the swings, but his response was even faster and his strength somehow increased. Dark Link turned his defense into offense, and started driving Link across the misty void that they fought in. Link had trouble defending himself, his anger was clouding his foresight of Dark Link's attacks. His anger failed him when Dark Link's blade made it through Link's defense and ran a long slash across Link's chest. Pain shot through Link as he staggered away from Dark Link. His anger was replaced by adrenaline induced fear. Surprisingly, Dark Link backed off and looked at Link expectantly. Link took notice of Dark Link's actions mimicking his levels of rage.

_'My anger reflects his power, when it is gone, he backs down. When it goes up, he attacks. That's the key!' _Link thought. Dark Link grit his teeth and sprinted at Link, swinging his sword like a madman. Link could now clearly see every move that Dark Link was going to use, and stopped them easily. He also noticed that Dark Link seemed to be weaker, and pushed him back, and took every chance to slash Dark Link. It went well until the point when Link felt sadistic glee, when Dark Link sprang at him and gave an extremely hard kick to the chest. Link flew backwards and landed on his back. Dark Link ran up and made to behead him. Link then shot into survival mode and rolled away. With lightning speed, he knocked Dark Link's sword out of his hands and ran him through the chest. Dark Link started backing away, staggering, the Master Sword still embedded in his chest. Blood ran from the wound down to the watery floor, mixing with the water and blood also ran from his mouth.

"T-This is not… o-over. You will s-see m-m-me again." Dark Link said. He wrenched the Master Sword out of his chest and threw a vial at the floor, a bright flash blinding Link. When his vision cleared, Dark Link was gone, as was his Dark Master Sword. The mist started to fade too, and Link also started to see the walls of the massive room. As Link got to his feet, he suddenly felt the extent of his injuries and collapsed onto the floor.

_-_

Miroku came to his senses with a great pounding in his head, and he groaned painfully. His vision was a little blurry. As it begin to clear, he began to sit up, and noticed the emptiness of the mist had faded, the island and tree were gone. Now he saw the walls of the massive room he was sitting in. Looking down, he gasped, seeing the blood that was mixed in with some of the water! Miroku looked around frantically for Link. He saw him over toward the door that previously had been barred shut, sitting weakly against the wall with one of his bottles in his hand, sipping from it. Miroku sighed in relief and walked over to him.

"What happened to your evil twin?" Miroku then asked. Link took a deep breath before speaking.

"I defeated him, but didn't get the chance to kill him. He escaped." He then went back to sipping the red medicine from the bottle.

"How are you feeling? Did he get you pretty bad?"

"He got me pretty good, but not enough. I'll be fine after I drink maybe another bottle full of this." Link then held up the bottle of medicine to show him, then continued. "I, on the other hand, managed to completely run him through with the Master Sword, but he used one of those magic grenades like Sheik uses to vanish out of here." Link then recounted the exhaustive and nearly fatal battle he'd just fought with Dark Link to Miroku, and Miroku was intrigued.

"So he really was your evil half huh? And you had to calm your thoughts in order to weaken and hurt him?" he then asked.

"That's right. I'm still worried though. Just before he vanished he said he would seek me out again to try and finish what we started. I just hope it won't happen while we're still trying to defeat Ganondorf. After Ganondorf's gone, _then_ he can come and find me if he wants. I'll be waiting for him then." Link then finished his second bottle of medicine and got back up, his injuries almost totally healed. Him and Miroku then turned their attention to the previously barred up door.

The room beyond it contained another large iron bound chest that Miroku levered open with his staff. Link smiled when he pulled out what was inside. Miroku was surprised. Link was now holding what looked to be another Hookshot!

"Intriguing. So now I get my own contraption huh?" Miroku asked. Link looked at it for a moment, then shook his head.

"Actually, this one's for me. It looks like the chain's a lot longer on it than my current one. I'll call this one the Longshot. Here Miroku, you carry my old one, I can't carry them both." Link then said, handing his shorter Hookshot to Miroku and keeping his new Longshot. Miroku just smiled a bit.

"You'll teach me how to use it right?" he then asked.

"Of course. Seeing as how this Temple has been so far, you'll more than likely have to use it sooner than you think." Link replied. They then proceeded to explore the rest of the room. Behind the chest was a strange square on the floor with a circle in the center of it and a bunch of arrows pointing at the circle.

"Hmm. Strange hieroglyphics." Miroku said, rubbing his chin as he looked at the square. Link in the meantime had gotten out the Ocarina again.

"That's the same design that was on the Door in the Temple of Time before I opened it. That means…" Link's voice trailed off as he began to play yet _another _new tune on the Ocarina. Miroku's eyes almost popped out of his head as the square then vanished, revealing a shaft that led down to a room with a sand covered floor.

"Link, what tune was that?" Miroku then asked after returning to his senses.

"I just played the same tune that I played seven years ago to open the Door of Time." Miroku then sighed.

"Yet another death defying leap to attempt, or fall, in this case." he then said, looking down the shaft and shaking his head.

"I'll go first." Link then said, putting the Ocarina away. Link then sat down on the edge of the opening, his feet dangling in. He then braced himself and dropped through. Link fell rapidly, but didn't let out any scream. He kept his legs bent as he impacted into the sand, allowing them to flex freely and absorb most of the shock. Thanks to the sand and the technique he used, he was uninjured, and stood up. "It's safe to come on down Miroku. Whatever you do, don't lock your legs straight. Keep 'em bent and they and the sand will absorb the impact and you wont get hurt." Link then yelled back up. Miroku again said a prayer and did as Link told him to do. Again, his prayers were answered when he landed and was unscathed too.

They were now in a part of the Temple that appeared to be a natural cavern that had been integrated into the rest of the Temple. A natural underground river flowed before them, and it would have been perfectly safe, had it not been for a swirling vortex that was next to the shoreline that they were standing on at the moment. Looking downstream, Link and Miroku saw that the river continued.

"This shouldn't be too dangerous. We'll just swim this and see where it leads." Miroku then said. Link then tapped his shoulder.

"Um, Miroku, did you not notice the vortex over there?" he said, pointing. "We're gonna have to use the boots wade down this river. There might be more vortexes up ahead."

"Yeah, you're right." Miroku replied. They then waded into the river and activated the boots, then began to wade downstream. The way was very, very difficult indeed. Strong currents were being created by more vortexes they encountered, and both of them were grunting and groaning a lot as they tried to move forward through them. It was a real struggle at times to keep from getting pulled into the vortexes. The whole cavern and river were S-shaped, the vortexes dotting the river the entire length, and it took them quite awhile before they reached a platform they were able to climb up on out of the river.

"Whew! Now I think I know what it feels like to be on the other side of my hand when it's exposed." Miroku said in between deep breaths as he rested and looked at his Wind Tunnel hand.

"How long have you had that curse anyway? Since birth?" Link then asked, also taking deep breaths as he rested.

"No, my father was still alive when I was born. His Wind Tunnel didn't consume him until I was 7. I know perfectly well what's in store for me if we don't destroy Narkau, for I was there to witness it when his Wind Tunnel finally did consume him." Miroku then said.

"Did it appear in your hand shortly afterwards?"

"Yes, over the next several days it started to manifest itself. I've had to wear this glove and these beads ever since then to keep it sealed up." Link then looked at their surroundings. He saw that there was another eye switch like he had seen in the Forest Temple, and a gate with a wooden treasure chest behind it.

"Miroku, get your Hookshot out. It's time you learned how to use it." Link then said. Miroku got it out and Link instructed and demonstrated how to aim and operate it. "Now, see that treasure chest over there behind the gate?"

"Yes."

"I think you're going to have to shoot it with your Hookshot and pull yourself to it. Let me do a test first." Link then got his bow and an arrow back out. He aimed at the eye switch and fired. When the arrow hit home, the gate opened and timer a then started. The gate wasn't open long however, and closed again after only a few moments. "Alright Miroku. Go ahead and take aim and ready at the chest. I'm going to shoot the switch again. As soon as the gate opens, fire the Hookshot. Whatever you do, _don't let go_ of the Hookshot if your aim was right and it digs into the chest. Prepare yourself." Miroku then set his sights on the chest, and took aim, readying the Hookshot to fire. "3...2...1...Shooting." Link then said as fired his arrow at the switch. When the gate opened, Miroku released the firing handle on the Hookshot and the hook flew out and dug into the chest. Miroku let out a yelp of surprise as he was then yanked off the platform as the Hookshot reeled in. The gate closed again just seconds after Miroku was through it. Miroku pulled the hook out of the chest, then moved off to the side to make room for Link.

Link took aim again at the switch. In one smooth motion, Link fired, reached down to his belt and grabbed his Longshot with this left hand, his bow still in the other hand. The gate then opened and Link rapidly took aim, fired the Longshot, and joined Miroku on the other side of the gate. Inside the chest was another key. The path they then followed led back to the central three-story room of the Temple. Miroku suggested they head back up the surface and try to get to the huge alcove the Hookshot couldn't reach earlier, but Link instead said they should try to get to a door on the bottom floor that the Hookshot also couldn't reach earlier. In there, much to Miroku's dismay, he again had to hold onto Link as Link used the Longshot to pull them over. Beyond that door was a large room with a huge pool with more of the vortexes and six of the spider monsters sitting on the surface of the pool. Miroku watched with amusement then as Link used the spiders for target practice with his bow. Each of his arrows hit the spiders dead center in the eye, even though the last two were half a football-field's length away.

"You know Link, after we finish up in here, you should take Kagome aside and give her some Archery lessons. She has trouble hitting things unless they're huge." Miroku then commented after Link split the last spider in half right down the middle with an arrow.

"I noticed that in the Forest Temple. Her first shot at Phantom Ganon missed him by a mile. Only after she got in the center of the room where she could shoot him head on, did she start hitting him. I think I will then. Her magical arrows can do a great bit of damage, but only if they hit what she's aiming at." Link replied, putting his bow back up. They then noticed a new problem with the room. Huge boulders, like those Link and InuYasha had found in the Fire Temple, were rolling out of the walls and into the pool and were then rolling toward and getting sucked into the vortexes. Reactivating the boots, they both jumped in and made their way across the bottom of the pool. Miroku just barely avoided getting run over by the boulders as they progressed. When they got to the other side of the pool, Link led them to where the boulders were falling into the water and motioned to Miroku to wait for him to deactivate his boots, and follow his lead. After the next boulder fell in and the vortex nearby had pulled it away, Link tapped the boots together and swam as fast as he could to the nearby ledge, using the current from the vortex to pull him toward it. Miroku followed him. They both grabbed onto the ledge and pulled themselves out. The door they now saw was not locked.

The next room had another puzzle in it. There was an underwater switch that raised and lowered the water in the room, but at first glance, there wasn't anything to push onto the switch to keep it activated. They needed to raise the water to reach some doors that were high up in the walls. Exploring around some, Link found some weak walls that he blasted apart with his explosives. Behind the weak walls were passages concealing a giant, granite block and the puzzle came together in Link's head. Miroku and Link then both worked feverishly to push the block out of the passages and onto the submerged switch. When the block finally fell onto the switch, the entire room then filled with water up the doors they had been trying to reach. The door led to another underground waterfall. Looking down, they saw another passage under the fall, underwater. Miroku was about to step out to sink down into it, when in the last second, Link saw a boulder falling from above and yanked him back! Miroku was about to protest when he saw the boulder land right where he had just been standing and then roll on out into the giant pooled room they had been in earlier.

"That was too close. Thanks Link." Miroku then said.

"You're gonna have to learn to be more observant of such things. Next time I may not see it until it's too late." Link then said. They then continued on through the passage. There were some spiked clams that Miroku took out with the Hookshot. The passage dead ended, and they looked up to see that there was an open room above. When they surfaced, they saw another locked door.

"We missed something, Miroku." Link then said.

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm out of keys. We gotta go back, and find another key somewhere."

"Great just, great. The Zoras did a fine job of making this Temple overly complicated. My head's spinning. Link where do we start? I think we've already found all of the keys." Miroku then said, his voice a little deflated.

"I've just got one idea, and even it's a wild guess."

"Well, it's better than nothing. Come on." Miroku then submerged back down and Link followed him. They made their way back to the three story central room and went back to the top of it. They proceeded to a passage that Link remembered they hadn't explored. That passage dropped down to the second level of the Temple, and they found another granite block to move. Before moving it, Link did some observing of the surrounding passages. They then moved the block and made their back to the top floor.

"Miroku, I'm going to have to change the water level again. Maybe twice." Link then said.

"Why?"

"That observing I did before we moved the block told me we're going to have to move the block once more. To get to the side we need to push it from, we have to Hookshot our way through another gate the same way we did in the vortex river. That gate is on the second level, currently underwater. The water's got to be drained and then raised back up to the second level." Link then explained.

"Okay then. I'll wait for you to drain the water at the base of the central tower." Miroku then said.

"Fine by me." They then jumped back in the water and Miroku sank back down to the base of the central tower and took a seat next to the door at the bottom to wait while Link went to drain the water. When that was done, Link rejoined him and they then reentered the central tower and Link again used the plaque in there to raise the water up to where they needed it. They then exited the tower at the second level. They walked around the tower to where the gate was and saw another eye switch. Just as before, Link took aim at the eye switch with his bow while Miroku had the Hookshot ready, except this time Link got out his Longshot after firing and fired it the same time Miroku fired the Hookshot. Both hooks dug into a target block on the other side of the gate, and both were then pulled over to it. They finished moving the block, finding another small chest with a key in it. Before making their made their way back to the previously locked door, Link went and raised the water all the way back up. They then made their way back to the locked door. The room behind it had what they had been looking for, a large, very ornately decorated chest. Miroku used his staff to shatter the padlock on it, and was mesmerized when he pulled out the large, gold key within.

"Wow, this ought to fetch a pretty good price." he said.

"Miroku, we can't leave the Temple to sell it. That's the key we need to get into the inner sanctum. Now that we have it, let's look at that huge alcove now, shall we?" Link then said, his hands on his hips. Miroku sighed again, a little dejected that they couldn't sell the key, but he nodded, and they left.

They made their back to the central tower room, and for the third time since they had entered the Temple, Miroku grabbed onto Link's shoulders as Link used the Longshot to pull them over to the huge snake statue in the alcove. The door behind the statue amazingly was not locked. What was behind told them why.

In front of them was a stone ramp that led up to a giant door that was barred and chained with a huge lock as before. Only problem was, there were three cubes moving along the ramp with deadly spikes sticking out of them.

"I'll go first." Link said. Miroku nodded. Link watched the moving spike cubes carefully, then made his move up the ramp. He made it unscathed. Miroku studied the cube carefully, and followed him. His unsaid prayers were answered in that he wasn't harmed either. Link then unlocked the lock and chain and opened the door.

Behind was a room with a another large pool and four platforms in it. There was a walkway surround the pool that ran up to the walls. They were both taken aback by the numerous spikes that stuck out of the walls and into the path of the walkway. Miroku narrowed his eyes.

"Link, this is it. There's something in here. This room is the source of the dark magic." Miroku then said.

"What's in here then? I don't see any monster."

Miroku pointed his staff around, then walked up to the edge looked at the water. The water was unnaturally blue. He then pointed his staff down into it.

"It's this strange water. I'm sensing a presence from it." Miroku said. He then tried to dip his staff into the water, when the water suddenly began to move as if it had a mind of its own! The water splashed up and grabbed a hold of the staff and began to try and pull it in! "What the…!" Miroku then pulled back, trying to keep from losing his staff, but it was no use. The staff was ripped from his clutches and pulled in, sinking to the bottom. Miroku then saw a strange, jellyfish looking creature approach and begin to spin, whipping up a vortex.

"Miroku, get away!" Link shouted. He ran up and shoved Miroku aside just as a shaft of water lashed out. The watery tentacle wrapped itself around Link and began to fling him around, flinging him across the room, barely missing the spikes embedded in the wall. Miroku started to jump the platforms to get to Link when a tentacle wrapped him up and threw him as well. Miroku got up a little dazed.

"Miroku, don't jump onto the platforms! You're a sitting duck if you do that!" Link then shouted.

"There's only one way to deal with this then. Wind Tunnel!" Miroku then opened his hand up and began to try and suck up the strange water. The water began to swirl up toward the black hole, but amazingly, stopped short of it! Miroku could sense the monster fighting like heck to keep from getting drawn in, and saw that it was useless to try and suck it in outright. He closed his hand and rejoined Link. "I can't suck it up with my Wind Tunnel, what now?"

"Miroku, I think that jellyfish looking thing in the water is its brain. It's moving too fast for me to shoot with my Longshot. Try to pull it out of the water with your Wind Tunnel." Link then advised. Miroku then ran around until he saw the jellyfish brain, and reopened his hand. The water again swirled up. This time, the brain began to be pulled up too, but Miroku again found he couldn't draw it in. Link then saw an opportunity. Miroku started to make like he was about to re-close the cursed hand.

"Wait Miroku! Don't close it up yet! I got an idea!" Link shouted, then ran up, drawing the Master Sword only. He put both hands on the hilt and in a whir sliced through the swirling water and the brain. The brain wasn't destroyed right away but was injured. Miroku re-closed his hand as the brain was ejected from the water column and flung back into the pool. Miroku now had the gist of what Link was doing, and his part in it. He took up hot pursuit around the pool for the monster's brain, Link tailing him. He found it again, and reopened the hand. The brain was again pulled up in a water column and Link sliced at it again as Miroku re-closed the Wind Tunnel.

Now things began to get more dangerous. More tentacles began to rise up out of the water to try and grab them. The monster was getting desperate. Link and Miroku were huffing and puffing trying to dodge them, and the brain was moving around even faster now. Miroku faked the left and caught the monster's tentacle and the brain off guard and opened the hand back up. Again the brain was pulled up into the column that formed. This time when Link swung at it, the brain dissolved.

Immediately, the tentacles sank back into pool and the strange water began to disappear. When it was all gone, Miroku found his staff at the bottom of it, and Link found the light circle that would allow them to leave, and they stepped into it.

_-_

Miroku was humbled greatly at the sight of the Chamber of Sages. He knelt immediately and said a long prayer.

"What is he doing?" Darunia then asked.

"Paying his respects. He is a monk." Link said after he had introduced them all to Miroku. Link then turned to Princess Ruto. "Please tell me you don't plan on us getting married now. I'm not ready for it." Princess Ruto then shook her head and sighed.

"I'm afraid I was wrong and can't do it Link. The others have just told me something like that is forbidden. Besides we've still got Ganondorf to get out of the way. As for the monk, he's proven to me now that he does have a good heart. So Link, what kept you from seeing me for seven years?" she then asked.

"Ask the others, they know. I need the medallion. The others are waiting on us." Link then said. Ruto nodded and then raised her arms up and a blue medallion then descended from above, and Link took it.

"Till we meet again." Saria then said as Link and Miroku then vanished.

_-_

_Authors' Notes:_

_First off, thanks to Gwydon, my brother, for contributing the Link/Dark Link battle scene, as I couldn't really come up with a fitting one on my own._

_Secondly, in the coming chapters, there's going to be some dialogue exchanged at a mystery point that will lay the premonition for a sequel to this story. What that dialogue is exactly, and where it exactly is in the coming chapters, you will have to figure out. However, don't start looking for chapters of this sequel until__THIS story has been finished and completely posted, and it is not!_

_Lastly, one of my reviewers said Link and the Inu-crew should go and get the Biggoron Sword. Let me say right now that thatain't__happenin'. That will add what I think are unnecessary chapters, and besides, I've already decided that InuYasha's Tetsusaiga is instead the heavy weapon of the crew, and rightly so._


	17. A Village in Danger

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Sixteen: _A Village in Danger_

"Raise you fifty." Kagome said as she tossed a 50 Yen coin in the pot in the center of their picnic towel.

"Too rich for me. I fold." Sango said as she laid her cards down.

"I'm callin'." InuYasha said as he dropped a 50 Yen coin in the pot too.

Kagome then laid her cards down face up.

"A pair of 10's and a pair of 8's. Beat that, dog boy." Kagome said. InuYasha laid down a hand with two jacks and two queens.

"I just did." He said with a smirk, then emptying the pot into his lap.

"How do you do it?" Kagome asked with a sigh. Not long after Link and Miroku had gone into the Water Temple, InuYasha had carried Kagome and her backpack up to the top of the island, while Sango and Shippo had followed on Kiara. Up there, they had found another hexagonal platform, and a tree. Shippo was sitting close by playing with the neko cat while the other three had been playing five-card-draw poker with Kagome as dealer. They had been playing for sometime, as dusk was starting to set in. To bet with, they had been using a pouch full of 1, 5, 10, and 50 Yen Japanese coins Kagome had in her backpack as poker chips, tossing their bets into one of Kagome'ssmall cooking pots in the center.

"Kagome, when in the future do these coins start being used as money?" InuYasha then asked as he started to put his winnings into a large pocket in his hakama pants.

"The coins that we're using here won't start appearing for another 400 years, so they haven't been used long, in demon years. I wonder what's taking Link and Miroku?" Kagome then asked. They all then heard a thump off to the side. They looked and saw Sheik standing on the platform, and he walked up.

"Link and the monk will be here shortly. In the meantime, take a look at the lake. Something is about to happen."

They all turned and looked out. To everybody's amazement except Sheik's, they began to hear a giant rushing of water and the lake started to gradually fill back up!

"Whoa! What going on?" Shippo then asked.

"Link and Miroku just destroyed the monster that was tainting this temple and cursing the Zoras. All is returning to as it was here in the lake." Sheik said as he walked in front of them to carefully survey the happenings himself.

"Does that mean Zora's Domain is unfrozen too?" Kagome then asked.

"Not yet. That will take time to happen, but the ice will start to melt over the next few days." Just then they heard a whirring sound, turned, and saw a shaft of light descend upon the platform, and Link and Miroku descended from the sky and landed gently on it. Everybody except Sheik then ran up.

"You're back!" Kagome then said happily.

"You're safe too!" Sango added in.

"My dear Sango, you shouldn't have doubted my safety for a minute while I was in there." Miroku then said to her.

"Look you two! The lake is refilling!" Shippo then shouted. Link and Miroku then walked up to the edge of the island and saw too that the lake was refilling. Link then looked at Sheik.

"What about Zora's Domain?" he asked.

"The ice will begin to melt over the next few days, but it will be maybe three or four weeks before the rest of the Zora will be unfrozen. That curse was extremely strong and it will take time for the effects of it to fade. In the meantime Link, I direct your attention to that tombstone over there." Sheik then pointed to a tombstone that the others had noticed earlier and looked at, but had not paid much heed to. Link then walked up to thetombstone, the others following. Him and Miroku noticed that the tombstone was directly in line with the setting sun. He looked down at it and read the Hylian inscription on it:

"When the lake refills, shoot for the evening dusk." he read out loud.

"Heed its words." they heard Sheik say. Link then got his bow out, nocked an arrow, and fired at the setting sun. As the arrow flew, something began to happen. A strange, yellow beam of energy then flew from the flying arrow into Link, and Link suddenly began to glow.

"What the…?" Link said as he started to look at himself.

"What's going on?" the others asked. The light then faded, and Link now strangely felt a new magical presence within him, unlike any he had felt before. His instincts then urged him to do something, and he raised his bow back up, nocked another arrow, and tapped into this newfound magic. The others and himself then took on a look of amazement as the arrow then began to glow with a yellow-orange light. Link fired the arrow, and the arrow continued to glow then started trailing fire behind it shortly after it left the bow!

"Wow! You've now got magical arrows like Kagome has!" Shippo then said.

"Instead of purification magic however, this appears to be fire-based attack magic." Miroku then surmised. Link then turned to ask Sheik something, but he was gone, yet again.

"Once again that sneak has skipped out right when we need to pump him for info." InuYasha said with a slight growl. Kagome, meanwhile, was looking out over the now fully refilled lake and noticed a problem her and InuYasha hadn't thought of when they had decided to wait for Link and Miroku's return on the island.

"Uh guys, how are we getting back to the shore to leave without getting soaked?" she then asked.

"Don't look at me! I wasn't the one who decided it would be a great idea to wait up on the island." InuYasha said with his nose up. Kagome looked ready to say 'it' when Sango chuckled.

"Let's not worry about it right now. It'll be night soon, so why don't we just camp out here tonight. Tomorrow, I'll ferry everyone one at a time back to shore on Kiara." she suggested. Everybody agreed with her and Kagome made camp while InuYasha walked over to the water's edge to catch fish. They bedded down after supper.

_-_

Link awoke the next morning to a feeling of uneasiness nagging at him. He felt as if something wasn't right somewhere, and it was confusing him. Dawn had just broke. He got up and roused the others.

"What is it, Link? Is there a reason for waking us this early?" Miroku asked as he yawned, then reached over to Sango as she was sitting up. SLAP! Sango smacked him even before his hand got to where she knew it had been going.

"Don't start it, monk." she said coldly, then continued, looking at Link: "Yeah, what is it Link? Is something the matter?"

"I think we need to head back to Kakariko Village." Link said, concern on his face.

"What? You think that volcano is about to erupt? We ain't goin' if it is." InuYasha then said.

"No, it has nothing to do with Death Mountain. I've got this uneasiness that something's wrong in Kakariko Village itself. I don't know what, and that's what's really making me nervous." Link said. Kagome had woken up too and heard everything. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated, then opened them back up.

"He's right, I've got a feeling that something's amiss off in the direction of Kakariko too. We should go and check it out." she then said.

"Let's break camp then and get going." InuYasha said. They then proceeded to break camp and Sango carried them each over to the shore one at a time on Kirara. Link then used the Ocarina to call Epona. He mounted up, and they were off.

As they were traveling, Link looked over at the others.

"I've been wondering more about this Naraku fellow you guys keep mentioning, and I'm curious. Why don't the rest of you tell me what wrongs he's done to the rest of you, and I'll tell you all more about Ganondorf? Miroku, you told me about what Naraku's done to you, how about you InuYasha? What enmity do you have with him?" Link asked. InuYasha growled fiercely at first.

"It's not important." he said defensively.

"InuYasha, don't worry. I know you don't like talking about the past, but talking about it to others actually helps you deal with it better. Besides, you can trust Link. The fact that he can use the Master Sword is proof of that." Kagome then said. InuYasha was still doubtful at first, then did decide to open up.

"What the hell. The others know it already, and they'll probably tell you anyway sooner or later. Might as well get it over with. Link, as you know, I'm a half-demon. In our world, that is considered a very bad thing. Miroku told you that my brother Sesshomaru hates me because of that. The fact is, _all _demons and _all_ humans hate me because of it." Link was taken aback by that. InuYasha continued. "My father died before I was born, while my mother died while I was still a little pup. After she died, the village we had lived in kicked me out because I was half-demon. I tried to find another village to live in, but every village I came to ran me off for the same reason. Full demons meanwhile, tried to kill me every chance they could because of my partially human blood."

"The beings of your world have much to learn about tolerance and acceptance. That kind of behavior is scorned here in Hyrule. We used to be like that here, and do you know what we got for it? A fierce and utterly brutal civil war that almost wiped everyone out, that's what. All the races learned from this mistake and chose reconciliation and tolerance of the other races when the alternative was be destroyed by hatred." Link then said.

"War is a constant thing too in our world. Its mostly small skirmishes however, nothing really major, but it still happens almost constantly." Miroku then said. InuYasha then continued.

"For ten years, I was alone. Running, hiding, fighting to survive. I lived everyday not knowing if I'd live to see the next day or not. Then I ran into the first person who seemed to care about me. Her name was Kikyo. She was the priestess who originally guarded the Shikon no Tama. I had first had run ins with her when I was trying to get the Jewel so I could become a full demon and escape my living nightmare, yet she did not kill me. Other demons she hadn't hesitated to destroy, but she stayed her purification arrows for some reason whenever she dealt with me. Kikyo convinced me to use the Jewel to become a human. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Naraku had been watching us even then. He wanted the Jewel too, but he wanted to use it for his endless evil ends. He laid a trap for Kikyo and I. First, he shape shiftedto look likeme and attacked Kikyo to get her to hate me by thinking I had betrayed her. Then, he shape shifted again, this timeto look likeKikyo and attacked me to make me think she'd betrayed me. He wanted us to start hating each other because he knew it would taint the Jewel with evil. Thinking that Kikyo had betrayed me, I stole the Jewel to become a full demon when Kikyo shot me with a sealing arrow and I was pinned to a tree in a comatose state for 50 years. Kikyo then died from Naraku's wounds after she shot me. The Sacred Jewel was burned with her body and it disappeared from this world while I was sealed." InuYasha finished. Link was silent for a moment as they continued onward, then asked a question.

"How did you emerge from being sealed to the tree?" he asked.

"It happened the first day Kagome traveled to mine, Miroku, and Sango's time. She's Kikyo's reincarnation, as she had the Sacred Jewel inside of her. She was being chased by a centipede demon. She ran to the tree I was pinned too, and somehow her presence woke me up. She freed me from the tree so I could save her. The Jewel was shattered shortly after that."

"So Naraku tried to use you and Kikyo to taint the Jewel with evil so he could use it?" Link then asked.

"That's right Link. Naraku couldn't use the Jewel in the purified state that Kikyo had been keeping it in. It had to be corrupted for him to use it." Miroku added.

"What about you, Sango? What did Naraku do to you?" Link then asked. Sango looked behind her at Miroku, then at InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo, then finally at Link.

"We'll have to stop for me to tell my story. It's my most painful memory." Sango then said with her head lowered.

"You don't have to tell it if you don't want to." Link then said.

"No, I want you to hear it. Kagome's right. Talking about painful memories and experiences to others does help to cope with it better." Sango then brought Kiara down to the ground and the others stopped too. Link got off of Epona, while Kagome walked over to Sango to help her through this. Sango meanwhile just sat on the ground. Link joined her, sitting across from her. Kagome sat to Sango's right, Miroku to her left. InuYasha, and Shippo meanwhile, just stood off to the side. Sango took a deep breath, then started.

"Link, my battle suit marks me as a professional demon exterminator. I was from a village full of others like me. It was the primary profession of the village. We made powerful weapons from the bones of demons, my boomerang being one of the finest examples. My village was also where the Shikon no Tama originated. Not long after the Sacred Jewel's reappearance and shattering, we began to collect any fragments of the Jewel we found in demons we had slain. Those were what first attracted Naraku to the village. At the time, he must not have been very powerful, because he did not attack the village directly. Instead, he came up with a scheme to lure to the most powerful of the exterminators, me included, away from the village with a fake exterminating job that was a trap to start with. While we were away, he gathered up a bunch of demons and had them attack and ransack the village, killing all that were still there. After those demons were finished ravaging the village, he went in, got the jewel shards we had collected, and left." Link's eyes then narrowed, anger showing some in his eyes. Sango continued, her eyes now starting to water slightly from tears. Kagome put an arm around her to comfort her. "But that was not the worst of it. During the battle me and the other powerful exterminators had been fighting, my little brother, Kohaku, became possessed and he attacked the others. It was his first time ever battling demons. My father was the leader of the expedition and of the village as a whole. I watched my little brother kill him, then the other powerful exterminators, and then come after me. I should have died then, but for some reason I didn't. Kohaku did however. Only later did I find out that Naraku had been the one who had possessed Kohaku to start with. I still bear a horrible scar in the middle of my back from where my brother had attacked me. Naraku then tried to use me in his plans. He tried to make me believe that InuYasha, not him, had been the one who had ravaged my village and slaughtered the others. He did that in an attempt to get me to kill InuYasha, Kagome, and Miroku. And worst of all, later, he revived Kohaku using a Jewel shard and had him come after me again with the intent of getting me to kill him out of hatred to taint the shard. Even if he is now Naraku's puppet, killing my brother with my own hands is something I can never do." Tears were now streaming down Sango's face, and Kagome had put her arms around Sango to comfort her. Link's face meanwhile, had become contorted and filled with a righteous fury.

"He prefers to scheme and manipulate to get what he wants. This Naraku is much, much more evil than Ganondorf could ever hope to be. He goes to extraordinary lengths to hurt people's hearts in ways that don't easily heal, so that they are left suffering emotionally, and he apparently takes a great, perverse pleasure in it. I hope when you guys get back to your own world that you find and destroy this abomination in the most painful, agonizing, and drawn out way possible. It's the only kind of death he deserves." Link then said in a voice that was one of barely controlled rage, his eyes closed and his teeth gritted. He then calmed himself. "Where did Naraku come from?" he then asked.

"Believe it or not, Naraku is actually a half-demon like InuYasha, but a different kind of half-demon." said Miroku. Link looked at Miroku with a raised eyebrow, the rage replaced with surprise.

"He's a half-demon too?"

"Yes, he is. He wants the Sacred Jewel complete so he can become full-demon. He was originally a human bandit named Onigumo. One day, something happened to him that caused him to be burned really badly. So badly in fact that his entire body had to be wrapped up in bandages. Kikyo found him and started taking care of him because of his wounds. Onigumo began to yearn after Kikyo for all the wrong reasons. Eventually, the yearning got so strong that he summoned hundreds of weak, pathetic demons to him, his intentions being to merge with them so he could gain mobility again. When the demons merged together with him, Naraku was born." Miroku then explained. InuYasha then walked up.

"Now that we've told you what we've got against Naraku, why don't you tell us more about Ganondorf?" he then asked down at Link.

"Let's first get going again on our way to Kakariko Village, and I will as we go along." Link replied. They all then mounted back up and started off again. Sango had stopped crying in the meantime. Link then began.

"You all may find this a little strange, but Ganondorf is from a tribe of thieves that is almost all women." he said, and he looked up at Miroku to see his reaction to that. When Miroku's eyes lit up, Link shook his head at him. "Don't get any ideas Miroku. If you tried hitting up on one, she'd slit your throat without a moment's hesitation. These are not the kind of women to fool around with. Anyway, a male is born among this tribe once only every one hundred years, and this lone male is destined to be their leader."

"What is this tribe called?" Kagome then asked.

"They are called the Gerudo. Ganondorf is the most recent male to be born among them. However, Ganondorf was not content in just ruling over the Gerudo tribe. He wanted more. As I said before, he wants to rule the whole world, everything. Ganondorf had very strong magical powers even before he got the Triforce. He was the one who cast the death curse on the Deku Tree, sealed up the Gorons' Dodongo's Cavern, and he also cast a curse on Lord Jabu-Jabu those seven years ago."

"He went to all that trouble in just trying to get the Spiritual Stones?" InuYasha then asked.

"Yes, he did. I can see now however, that he pales in comparison to Naraku in terms of sheer wickedness." Link replied. They continued on for some time, then stopped and had lunch, and set out again. It was dusk as they were just starting to approach the path that led up to Kakariko Village. As the sun dipped below the horizon, they were all dumbstruck at what started happening to InuYasha. InuYasha meanwhile thought he had suddenly been cursed somehow. InuYasha had transformed back into a human!

"What the hell? I thought my time of the month had already passed! What's going on?" InuYasha asked to nobody in particular as he looked at his now clawless hands and raven locks of hair in complete shock. The others looked up at the sky.

"There's no moon tonight? How can that be? It's only been a few days since the last new moon." Kagome then said.

"I was wondering when this night was going to come." Link then said, rubbing his chin.

"What the hell are you talking about?" InuYasha asked angrily.

"Every100 years or so, we have a couple of months called the 'double-moons' here in Hyrule. There's a month where there's two nights of the new moon in the same month followed by a month with two nights of the full moon. It's an extremely rare occurrence. Most people don't get to see it." Link explained.

"Well that's just great. It chooses to conveniently happen just while we're here." InuYasha then said with barely contained rage. Shippo meanwhile, had started looking back in the direction of Kakariko village.

"Uh, Link? What is that glow?" Shippo then asked in a scared voice. They all then looked and saw a yellowish-orange glow rising above the hills surrounding Kakariko Village, as well as smoke too.

"Oh no. Nayru, please don't let that be what I'm afraid it is. Come on guys!" Link shouted as he leapt off Epona and started to race up the path to the village, the others following him. The site that greeted all of them when they went through the front gate into the village horrified them.

Most of Kakariko Village was ablaze! It appeared that most of the buildings in the village were on fire. Women were running and screaming, while the men of the village were using shovels, dirt, and blankets to try and fight the fires. In the center of the village, at the stone well, they saw Sheik, looking into the well. Link and InuYasha ran up to him.

"Link, InuYasha! Stay back!" He shouted. Just then, the wood frame that allowed buckets to be lowered into the well for drawing up water was ripped up out of the ground! It was sent flying, and Kagome and the others had to scatter to keep from getting hit by as it smashed into the ground and broke apart. A fierce howling wind then blew next to the well, and Sheik was picked up and sent flying by it too! Sheik was then body slammed into the ground.

"Sheik!" Link shouted.Him and Kagome ran up to Sheik, while InuYasha continued to look at the well. An evil looking black cloud came out of the well and began to float around the village.

"What is that cloud?" Shippo asked.

"It's very evil whatever it is." Miroku said as he watched it. InuYasha had now ran over to where Link and Kagome were tending to Sheik.

"Link, what is that thing?" he then asked.

"I've never seen it before. Kagome, how's Sheik?" Link asked.

"He's just been knocked out cold. He'll come to in a few minutes. Look out!" Kagome then screamed as the evil cloud approached.

Link and InuYasha didn't have time to draw their weapons. They were both simultaneously picked upand started to beflung around in the cloud like rag dolls. At one point, InuYasha's head smacked against Link's shield, knocking him unconscious. A moment later, Link was thrown hard into the side of a building, knocking the wind out of him. The cloud then lifted them both high in the air, and then forcefully body slammed them both into the ground!

"LINK! INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed.

_-_

_Author's Notes:_

_Cliffhanger! Hey, don't start getting mad, I gotta keep you guys coming back for more, you know how it is._

_I apologize if Link may have seemed a little OOC in his response to Sango's tale, but that's how I honestly believe Link would've responded. Besides, I don't think Link showed anywhere near enough emotion in Ocarina of Time anyway. That was one of the few faults I have with that game, Link's overall lack of emotions._

_Also, I have an absolute fanatical hatred of Naraku like you wouldn't believe. The source of that hatred? Episodes 24-25 and 29-30 of the series. After seeing those episodes, I wanted to jump through the TV screen and kill Naraku myself every time he appeared in a future episode, and I still do too. Not surprisingly, two of my favorite episodes are episodes 80-81. I've rewatched them numerous times because I can't get enough joy out of seeing Sess and Inu almost waste Naraku completely. Let me say right now that if I do an InuYasha fic where the group offs Naraku for good, Naraku WILL die in the most pain-filled, agonizingly slow way I can come up with, and all the pain suffering he's caused is paid back to him TENFOLD._

_Next chapter not long in coming, just like this one!_


	18. To the Past and Down the Well

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

_Author's Note: Link will be traveling back in time in this chapter, so after he goes back in time, like I said before, he will be referred to as Young Link. Also, in case you haven't yet, go back and re-read Chapter Four: Race in the Underground Crypt. I have revised that chapter and added a village character, Rhape. She makes an appearance in this chapter as well. I have also revised and added some to chapter five: 'InuYasha vs. The Forest Giants', and seven: 'Link's Origins and the Master Sword's Unfathomable Power', so they need to be re-read as well._

Chapter Seventeen: _To the Past and Down the Well_

"Wind Tunnel!" Miroku opened up his hand toward the black cloud and tried to suck it in, but the cloud was too far away and not getting any closer. Seeing that it was out of range, Miroku closed his hand back up. The cloud then made it its way out of the village.

"Miroku, come on! We need to help fight these fires if we can't get that cloud!" Sango shouted at him. Miroku nodded and the monk and exterminator then joined in the firefighting efforts while Kagome checked up on Link and InuYasha. To her relief, they had both only been knocked out cold. She knew InuYasha however was going to have a hell of a headache when he came around, and gave him something right then to ease the pain for when he did come to.

The firefighting efforts weren't going well. Another building had caught fire and was now ablaze. The people of the village began to fear that they were going to lose everything when a miracle happened. The heavens opened up and an intense rain began to fall. The fires were out in a matter of minutes, and the rain let up to a light shower, but it didn't stop. Sheik meanwhile had come to, and he helped Miroku and Sango carry Link and InuYasha into Rhape's house, one of the few buildings that weren't damaged.

InuYasha was the first to come to, and despite Kagome's headache pill she had forced down his throat, he still had a headache like he had never had. He opened his eyes to see Kagome, but instead of seeing one Kagome, he saw two!

"Ki...Kikyo? Where...did you come from? Why are you helping Kagome out?" InuYasha then asked in a drunken sounding voice.

"No, InuYasha, its only me. You'vesuffered a concussion and you've got double-vision." Kagome then said, rubbing his forehead. Sheik walked up looking puzzled.

"Kagome, are you sure that this is InuYasha? I still have my doubts." He then said, perplexed at seeing InuYasha's now black hair, human ears, and violet eyes. Kagome then explained to him about how InuYasha was half-demon and how he occasionally turned into a human.

"Oh, I see now." Sheik said when she finished. They then heard a moan as Link started to come to. Rhape had already put a wet washcloth on his head to try and ease his headache. The first thing Link saw was Sheik standing over him. "You're finally coming around Link. It's good to see you're alright."

"Kakariko Village! Is it-" Link asked in a panic, but was cut off.

"The village is safe. The Goddesses opened up the heavens and let the rain fall. It put the fires out, but I'm afraid something terrible has happened. The rest of you, come over and listen. Rhape, you must leave for the moment, and wait outside." Sheik then said to the others. Rhape nodded and left, and Kagome helped InuYasha over to where Link and Sheik were as Sango, Miroku and Shippo joined them.

"Are you going to tell us what that cloud was?" Shippo then asked. Sheik nodded and began.

"That cloud you all saw was an evil shadow spirit, and it has now escaped into the world. It had previously been sealed in the well by Impa, leader of Kakariko Village and servant of the Royal Family. Unfortunately, it now seems the evil spirit's power got so strong it finally broke the seals and managed to escape." he then explained.

"Where's this Impa now?" Miroku then asked.

"I believe she's gone to the Shadow Temple to try and seal the spirit again, but she cannot do it alone. She will need help."

"Wait a minute, you're gonna tell us that this Impa is another Sage, right?" InuYasha then asked in an annoyed voice. Sheik's eyes then lit up some.

"I'm impressed InuYasha. Your intuition improves. You are correct, Impa is one of the Sages." he said, then turned to Sango. "Sango, you, the master demon exterminator, are who will accompany Link into the Shadow Temple. Your skills with your weapon are unmatched."

"But where is this Shadow Temple?" Sango then asked.

"Your instincts have led you all to the right place. The cave leading to the Shadow Temple lies in a difficult to reach place in this village's graveyard, and for good reason. The Shadow Temple is full of dark horrors not meant to be seen by commoners. It was built after the unification war as a depository of the dark magic tomes and evil artifacts that existed in Hyrule before the King of Hyrule unified the land. After the unification war, the evil tomes and artifacts of all the races were deposited in it." Sheik explained.

"You're saying this Temple was built as a holding place for all of those things? Why not just destroy them?" Miroku then asked.

"The King's most powerful mages tried in vain to destroy them. The Shadow Temple was built out of necessity to be the permanent storage place for it all instead. Anyway, Link, I must now teach you the song that will transport you and Sango to the entrance, the Nocturne of Shadow." He then got out his harp, Link following with the Ocarina, and Sheik taught the dark sounding tune to him. "There is also a great magical barrier on the cave entrance as well, that will only permit a select few to even approach the door to the Temple. The barrier is there to keep the evil contained when you open the Temple door to enter.Link and Sango will be able to pass through. It will allow you through, Link, because you carry the Master Sword. Sango will be able to pass as well since she is one of the Allies. I have told you all that I can now." Sheik then said as he got up and then left the house. Rhape then came back in.

"He gone again?" Sango then asked.

"Yes he is. The rain also has not stopped." Rhape replied. Kagome then spoke up.

"Link, Sango, before you two decide to go off and find the Shadow Temple, I think we need to get some rest tonight."

"Yeah, Kagome, you're right. I'm sore all over from being body-slammed against a building and then the ground." Link said.

"You all make yourselves at home here then." Rhape then said as she helped everybody get bedded down for the night.

_-_

The next morning, after everybody had gotten up and eaten breakfast, Link announced that him and Sango were going to go to the Shadow Temple. Link waited while Sango went and changed into her exterminator gear. When she returned, Link got the Ocarina out and played the Nocturne of Shadow on it. The rest of the group then stood in awe at what happened. Both Link and Sango turned into balls of light and flew out of the windows of the house! Link and Sango then appeared on a new hexagonal platform, outside the entrance to a cave on a ledge in the graveyard. Sango shook her head to clear it because the travel there had disoriented her some. It was raining there too in the meantime.

"That was an experience." Sango said as she turned around. Link saw it first. There was a strange glowing, wavy barrier on the cave entrance. "This so much reminds of Midoriko's cave." Sango then said.

"Midoriko? Who's that?" Link then asked.

"She was the most powerful priestess who ever lived in our world. She had unequaled spiritual power and could purify any demon, no matter how powerful they were. It was because of her that the Shikon no Tama was created." Sango then explained to Link the origins of the Sacred Jewel, telling him about the great seven-day long battle Midoriko waged against the unified demons in a cave. "Her spirit is now filled with a great, unimaginable sorrow because of what's happened since then, especially now in the wake of what Naraku has wrought using the fragments of the Jewel he possesses. Her spirit erected a barrier over the entrance to the cave where it happened. Only those of my village were permitted to enter. It was in her cave that we manufactured all of our weapons." she finished.

"So that's how that Jewel was created huh? Interesting, but not as interesting as how the Triforce came to be, but that's a story for later." Link said as he walked through the barrier, Sango following. They were now in a passage with stairs that led down into a cavern that stopped them both. It was rather large, large enough to hold a pretty good size campsite. In the center of it was a small circular platform with Hylian text surrounding it. Surrounding the platform and text were a bunch of unlit braziers, but those weren't the things that had stopped Link and Sango in their tracks. What _had_ stopped them was a large, stone built entranceway built into the back wall, or rather, the door sealing it. The door was huge, easily 24 ft. tall. Carved into it was a very large and very, very, scary looking eye symbol with three triangles above it and what appeared to be a drop of blood falling as a tear below it.

"If that barrier wasn't enough to scare somebody off, then that door would definitely do it. My skin's crawling just looking at it." Sango then said, fear barely audible in her voice.

"That's the symbol of the Sheikah, the people Sheik and Impa are of. The Sheikah must've been the ones who supervised the Shadow Temple's construction and placed the evil tomes and artifacts in it. They must've also been appointed to be the Temple's caretakers." Link said as he walked up to the circular platform in the middle of the braziers. He looked down at the Hylian text, and walked around the platform to read it. "_Only by the braziers lighting all at once and at the same time will the door to the House of the Dead be opened._" Link read.

"How the heck are we going to do that?" Sango then asked. Link however, had noticed a flame symbol on the platform.

"Sango, back up into the hallway leading in here and shield yourself. I'm going to try something they may hurt you if you're too close." Link said.

"Hold on a moment." Sango said as she then backed up into the passage leading into the cavern. She took her boomerang off her back and laid down on the steps, holding her boomerang up in front of her. "Ok, I'm ready."

Link stepped up onto the platform, and closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He then reared back and slammed the palm of his hand onto the platform. A wall of flame then formed around him and began to spread outward rapidly, lighting all the torches in quick succession. The door then began to open slowly. Sango watched in complete awe at first, then braced herself as the last remnants of the flames reached her. She needn't have worried. The Hiraikotsu, her boomerang, dissipated the last of the flames, leaving her unharmed. She then got back up walked back down into the cavern.

"Link, how did you do that?" she then asked.

"Magical attack I learned before I got sealed up in the Sacred Realm those seven years ago. Its saved my life a few times." Link then said. They then suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of evil envelop both of them, and they looked back over at the door. It was now completely open. They both then looked back up the passageway and noticed that the barrier was now glowing brightly, as if it was working to hold something in.

"Now I see why the barrier was put up. Anytime the door is open, the evil contained within attempts to escape." Sango then said. Her and Link both built up their courage and walked over to the open entranceway, and entered. They were now in a darkish hallway, and the sense of evil grew intense, making the hair on the back of Link's neck stand up. Sango began to feel a sense of dread wash over her, and she gulped audibly. They rounded a corner and stopped. Before them was a narrow chasm with a target block on the other side. What had stopped them however, was on the other side of the chasm, the hall seemed to dead-end at a wall with a frightening looking carving of a face on it. As they approached the chasm, an evil sounding voice echoed throughout the hall.

"_The Shadow will yield only to those who possess the Eye of Truth, handed down in Kakariko Village."_ It said.

"Eye of Truth?" Sango asked.

"I know I've heard that term somewhere before…" Link said as rubbed his chin in deep thought. His mind then flashed back to the first time he had come to Kakariko Village with InuYasha and the others. He remembered having a conversation with an old man.

_' "A long time ago there was a man in this very village who had an eye that was believed could see the truth! These days usually, you have to train your mind's eye most strenuously to actually see the truth, but not this guy. No, they say he had a different way of doing things. His house stood where the well is." '._ Link remembered the old man saying before Kagome had asked him for some Rupees. '_Could what that old man have been talking about possibly be this Eye of Truth?_' Link thought. '_It's worth a shot._'

"Sango, I think we need to leave. I don't think we're going to get very far at the moment without this 'Eye of Truth'." Link then said.

"What are we going to do?" she then asked.

"I want to take a look at the bottom of the well that cloud came out of." Link said as he turned around and made his way back to the entrance, Sango following. As soon as they reentered the brazier filled cavern, suddenly the braziers all went out simultaneously and the Temple door began re-close!

"Oh no! Link, the door closed!" Sango then said in a frantic voice after turning around and seeing the door.

"I think it was meant to do that, to keep the evil sealed since we're no longer inside. I'm positive it can be reopened if I use my magic again. Come on." Link said reassuringly. As they began to leave the cavern, they noticed the barrier had stopped glowing. They exited and saw a fence beyond the platform they had appeared on. They walked up and looked down, and saw that the fence was guarding a ten-foot drop-off into the graveyard below. They both then climbed up onto the fence and jumped off, both of them using their legs to cushion their landings. They then left the graveyard and headed back into the village.

Link walked over to the stone well and looked in. It was bone dry. He also noticed a metal ladder leading down into the well. He then climbed down into the well on the ladder. Sango didn't follow him, her boomerang wouldn't fit, so she looked in and watched him.

At the bottom of the well, Link looked around and saw what looked to be the beginning of a passage, but it was blocked off by a huge, immobile rock.

"What do you see?" Sango asked down at him.

"I see the beginning of a passage down here, but it's blocked off. We're back to square one." Link said in a defeated voice as he sat down on the floor of the well and he began to think again.

_'Now what do we do? Nayru, I could sure use some of your divine wisdom right about now.'_ Link thought, tapping his foot. Sango thought long and hard too, when for some reason, her mind drifted back to the day Link had took them to the Temple of Time. She remembered them all meeting Sheik there, and he'd shown Link something…

"That's it! I've got an idea! Link climb back up!" Sango then yelled down into the well. Link climbed back up.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Remember when we all paid a visit to the Temple of Time before we climbed Death Mountain? We met Sheik in there, and he showed you something you could do with your sword!" Sango then said. That's when it dawned on Link, and he drew the Master Sword and looked at it.

"Of course! Sheik said I could go back in time if I return the Master Sword to the Pedestal. Sango, are you suggesting I go back in time, then come here in the past and see if I can somehow enter the well in the past?" Link then asked.

"It's the only idea that I can see trying. Besides, Sheik said in the Temple of Time essentially too that you'd have to travel back to the past at some point before this is all over. This is probably one of those times."

"Only one problem. If I remember correctly, this well was full of water seven years ago." Link then said. The cheerfulness that had been on Sango's face then disappeared.

"Maybe this isn't one of those-" she had started to say in a defeated voice, but the sound of Link snapping his fingers cut her off.

"Wait a minute. I remember something else now too. It was back when we first came here after escaping Lon Lon Ranch so I could get the Hookshot. After I left the crypt I found it in, I wound up in the village windmill and there was a man in there who was angry." Link then said.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The man said he was angry because a kid wearing green-clothes had came in there one day seven years ago and played a strange song that caused the windmill to speed up and drain the well. He taught the song to me." Link then snapped his fingers again. "Now I know exactly what I have to do. Nayru, thank you for your help." Link then said looking toward the sky as he said the last sentence.

"Who's Nayru?" Sango then asked.

"She's one of the triumvirate Goddesses of Hyrule. I'll tell you and the others the whole story about them and the Triforce later. Right now I need to get to the Temple of Time." Link said as he got the Ocarina back out, played the Prelude of Light, and again turned into a ball of light and vanished. Sango meanwhile, picked up her boomerang and walked back over to Rhape's house, the rain continuing to pour.

"Back so soon? Hey, wait a minute. Where's Link?" InuYasha asked finishing his fifth steak.

"He's set out for the Temple of Time. We're going to need a new item for this Shadow Temple." Sango then said, then briefly explaining why Link had left for the Temple of Time.

"So he's got some things to do in the past huh? This is very interesting." Miroku said as he rubbed his chin.

"I wondered why the hell he came out of the windmill that time." InuYasha then said.

"Sango, I worry about him. Didn't he say the first time he went back to the past like that that he returned to being a little boy?" Kagome then asked.

"Yes, he did."

"I sure hope nothing happens to him then. This sounds like it could be extremely dangerous." Kagome then said, looking down at the floor.

"Quit your pathetic worrying, Kagome. Don't you remember him talking about all that stuff he did as a kid too? He'll be fine." InuYasha then said gruffly. "In the meantime, I wanna take a look myself at that cave to the Shadow Temple that you and Link went off to this morning, Sango."

"InuYasha, I don't really see much point to it. Unless you know of a way too of lighting 30-something odd braziers at once, there's no way you can get the door open." Sango then said. Everybody's eyes bugged out at that.

"Did…did you just say that Link managed to set fire to a bunch of braziers all at once?" Kagome asked, amazed.

"That's right. I did. He used a special magic attack he said he hadn't shown us yet because he hadn't needed to, until then. He said he learned it those seven years ago."

"Wow! Do you think he could show that to me? Maybe I could learn how to do the same thing with my fox fire!" Shippo then said excitedly.

"I don't know if he will, Shippo. He told me to stand back a pretty good ways when he did it, and I'm glad I did too. I had to use the Hiraikotsu to shield myself from it." Sango then said to him. InuYasha then "keh'd" and started for the door.

"Hey, where you going?" Kagome then asked.

"Perch on the roof and stare at the sky. What else? All we can do is wait while Link's on his time-traveling adventure." InuYasha said grumpily as he walked out the door. There was a thump from the ceiling shortly afterwards.

Link walked up to the Pedestal of Time with the Master Sword, ready to place the sword back in. This was going to be the second time he had ever done this. He took a deep breath and reinserted the Master Sword back into the Pedastal. The platform glowed, and the whirring noise started, and the blue wall appeared. A bright flash of light, and Link then saw that he was now only as tall as the part of the Master Sword that stuck out of the Pedastal. He looked at himself. He was Young Link again.

He jumped off the pedastal and made sure he had all of his child size equipment with him, then got the Ocarina out. He considered playing the Nocturne of Shadow and teleporting to the Graveyard.

_'No, better not. That ten-foot dropoff would hurt pretty badly with this body, strange as it sounds. Man, I can't believe I'm this young again. This is going to take some getting used to.' _Young Link thought. He left the Temple of Time, and was caught up in nostalgia at seeing Hyrule Castle Town vibrant again. The slight sadness hit him again at realizing he'd have to head back to the future once he was through finding this 'Eye of Truth'. _'Don't think like that. You're doing this in the first place so you can make the future like this time too. When you and the others bring down Ganondorf, Hyrule Castle Town can then be rebuilt and be like this in the future.' _Young Link heard an inner voice in his head say. It brought reassurance to him, and his face hardened in determination. He then took off for the town gates and left, entering Hyrule Field, and began the long journey on foot to Kakariko Village. It had been morning when he walked out of the Temple of Time, and dusk was falling when he walked into the village. He then made his way to the windmill. Inside, he again saw the music box man, still playing his barrel organ. The barrel organ was playing a version of the Song of Storms.

"I'm so happy to be playing this music! It fits this windmill so well!" The man said, smiling.

"Hey, may I join in?" Young Link then asked, getting out the Ocarina of Time.

"Sure, sure my boy! Let's see how that ocarina of yours adds to my organ's tune!" he said. Young Link smiled a little. He put the Ocarina to his lips.

_'Sorry mister. You're gonna hate me for this, but I gotta do it. I'll explain this all to you once Ganondorf's gone, and maybe you'll forgive me then.'_ Young Link thought as he then played the Song of Storms.

Outside, the few people in Kakariko looked up, confused. Storm clouds had suddenly gathered over the village. The thunder then came, and the rain began to fall as the heavens opened up. A fierce wind then began to howl. The wind caught the blades of the windmill, and the windmill began to speed up. It continued to speed up until the blades began to groan from the strain of spinning faster. With the windmill spinning so fast, the well began to drain because the windmill drew the water out of it. Inside the windmill, the machinery that pumped the water had sped up greatly, so much so that it was beginning groan too from the strain.

"What? What's happening? Why has everything sped up so much?" The music box man looked around, then at Young Link. "What did you just do?" he then asked. Young Link then closed his eyes, put up the Ocarina and walked out solemnly. The storm was still raging outside and no one noticed as he calmly walked up to the well, and climbed down to the bottom. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the passage was unblocked, and he walked down it.


	19. Well of Horrors

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Eighteen: _Well of Horrors_

At the end of the passage, Young Link had crawled through a crawlspace and went down a ladder when he came across the first of many ghastly sights that would greet him. He now stood at end of a hallway that had several piles of skulls in it. A large spider monster was in front of him. Young Link got out his slingshot and walked up to the monster, it turned around, exposing it's belly to him. Young Link fired off two quick shots with the slingshot that destroyed the monster. At the end of the hallway, a full skeleton was leaning up against the wall the empty sockets of its skull staring at him with a grin of death. Young Link approached the skeleton, and as he got close to it, an eerie voice seemed to speak into his mind.

'_Seek the eyes of truth…'_ the voice said. Young Link meanwhile, now had a dilemma. The wall seemed to dead end, but strangely, he was hearing sounds coming from beyond the wall. He decided to try something. He reached out with his hand to the wall, and was shocked to see his hand go through the wall effortlessly, as if it wasn't even there!

'_So that's why Sango and I need this Eye of Truth! It must be able to tell when something is physically real and when it's an illusion. That wall we thought was a dead end in the Shadow Temple must be like this one, an illusion.'_ Young Link thought. He stepped on through the illusory wall. Then another thought came to him, one he didn't like. _'Oh no. If what I've been through already is any indication, there's more than likely going to be more things besides that wall that are illusions, like fake floors or invisible enemies. Perfect, just perfect. I need to find this Eye of Truth immediately, if not for my own safety in here than anything else.'_ Young Link sighed heavily, and turned around and walked back through the fake wall to the other room and up to the crawlspace. Instead of crawling back through it however, Young Link put his hands to his sides and began to concentrate around him. A green field then began to envelop him and he raised his arms up. The green field then concentrated itself into a little green ball of light that centered itself above him. Young Link opened his eyes and looked up.

"It worked. This place does have a dungeon map in it then, but I'm not sticking around in here to find it. I'm glad I learned Farore's Wind when I did. It's become a handy spell to have." Young Link said to himself. He then walked back up to, and through the fake wall to survey the room beyond. In front of him was a small pool that was flooded, and he saw there was a small canal, shallow enough to stand in leading up to the pool that the water was flowing through. Beyond that was an area were there were some more piles of bones and skulls, fallen timbers and chains hanging from the ceiling. Meanwhile the air was thick with the smell of the dead. The whole room had a very dank and dark look to it, and Young Link walked forward carefully, unnerved some by all the ghastliness around him. He was very much on edge too due to his fears of there possibly being invisible enemies or possibly stepping on a spot on the floor that wasn't really there. He soon found that the canal the water was flowing in was coming down large halls on the left and right. He looked to his left and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a giant skull with bat wings round a corner! The skull he quickly realized was a giant version of the same skulls he saw with Kagome in several rooms of the Forest Temple, except this one had a green aura around it. Strangely, as it passed him, it did not attack him, but just flew on by. Young Link decided it would be best to just try and avoid the thing, and decided to go in the direction it was flying, to the right. He went down the hall, hung a corner to the left and stopped briefly. The hallway continued, but what had stopped Young Link now was that at the far end of the hall was a wall with the same eerie face carving in it that him and Sango had seen in the Shadow Temple. He continued forward cautiously and eventually started to hear the skull monster approaching. Looking around quickly, he saw a niche in the wall up ahead and ducked into it to allow the green skull to go by harmlessly. He was just about to leave the niche and continue on when he heard a familiar sound behind him. He turned and saw a Like Like behind some bars, so it couldn't get to him. It was the same kind of monster he and Miroku had killed in the Water Temple just before entering the room where they had encountered Dark Link, and the same kind of monster that had almost ate InuYasha's Tetsusaiga in the Fire Temple. Young Link quickly drew his child size sword and shield, the Kokiri Sword and a small shield made of wood, and dispatched it with a few quick stabs through the bars. He then walked back out into the hall and continued. When he approached the wall with the eerie face, he heard another voice enter his mind.

'_Danger below…_' it said. Young Link stopped and looked around carefully, then took a few more steps forward. Suddenly, his illusory floor fear was realized when his foot passed right through what he thought was solid floor into thin air! Young Link fell through the invisible hole and let out a scream that could wake the dead as he fell! He fell for several moments, just enough time for him to bend his legs a little to help cushion the impact. CRACK! When he finally hit the bottom, he fell backward onto his back. A sharp, intense pain then shot through Young Link's legs and he screamed in pain. The pain was so intense in fact that tears of pain began to run down Young Link's cheeks. He knew immediately that he had broken both of his legs. He kept his legs motionless in the position they were in as he painfully reached into his pockets and pulled a bottle full of the red medicine, opened it, and took a few sips from it. The medicine immediately went to work mending his bones. After a half hour of resting, he attempted to get up and found his legs fully healed. Now Young Link began to assess where he was.

He was now in some strange natural underground passage. Looking up, he saw where he had fallen from. He got his sword and shield back out and headed down through the passage. The passage soon opened up into a cavern, and revealed another ghastly sight to him. In the center of the cavern was a strange pool with wooden timbers in it. The pool was full of a green liquid, with decayed looking arms sticking out of the liquid. Young Link held his nose for a second, the stench of the dead so intense in here it was starting to become nauseating. Silver rupees were floating as well over the timbers of the pool. A ladder stood up against a wall that led up to an alcove with another silver rupee in it. Looking around some more, Young Link also saw some zombies sitting around. He approached the zombies carefully and snuck up on them from behind to dispatch them one at a time, and carefully took them out that way. He then carefully collected the gems, but believed there to be more of them. Looking around, he saw that there were other passages, but they were blocked off with rocks and he didn't have his explosives with him. So, Young Link climbed the ladder and collected another silver rupee. The alcove led back to another ladder. At the top of that ladder was a tiny room with a barred door and one more silver rupee. Collecting it unbarred the doorway. On the other side of it, Young Link found he was back in the room with the water canal and canal passages, except he was now on the left side. Looking to his left, he saw another hallway with another face carving on the wall at the end of it and decided to carefully go that way. He saw another niche in the wall, on the left this time, and ducked into it to avoid the skull monster, but he saw he could actually go down it. Young Link thought about it for a moment, then shook his head and went back into the hallway instead, and continued on. He'd already fallen through one fake floor, and didn't want to risk falling through another one and possibly winding up in one of the sealed passages, unable to get out.

'_On a danger scale of 1 to 10, this place is a 10 in my book. If it hadn't been for me having that medicine, I'd still be lying in that passage after that fall, unable to really move, until I eventually starved to death, IF I wasn't found and done in by a zombie before that. I'm not taking anymore risks in here. Not until I've found the 'Eye of Truth', whatever it is. Then I'll explore this place more thoroughly.' _Young Link thought, as he continued on toward the face carving wall. As he approached the carving, the strange voice sounded in his head again.

'_Danger above…'_ it said. Young Link stopped and got his Kokiri Sword and wooden shield back out, and inched forward slowly, ready for anything. Another large spider monster then dropped down through a fake ceiling in front of him. Young Link put away his sword and shield and used his slingshot to bring the spider monster down, wary of stepping on another fake floor. He then turned to his right and continued on down the hallway, and to another strange sight.

Young Link now saw a statue of some monster embedded in the back wall, and the water flooding the floor was flowing out of the mouth of it. On the floor in front of it, Link saw a large Triforce crest. He rubbed his chin for a minute, then an idea came to him. He pulled out the Ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby, the tune he had used in the Water Temple on the plaques and the song of the Royal Family. The water then stopped flowing and began to drain. Young Link then backtracked to where the water had stopped flowing to look around. With the water drained, he now had access to the bottom of the pool in the floor he's seen earlier, and saw it had another crawlspace in it, and he crawled through it. Coming out the other end of it he encountered another hanging spider monster that was dealt with, and a textured wall that he climbed up, with a door at the top. He went through it, the door then barring itself on the other side.

The sound of crunching bone at his feet greeted Young Link on the other side of the door. He looked down and his eyes opened wide like saucers. He looked around the room and audibly gulped. The floor, walls and ceiling of this room were made up of actual humanoid skulls! Young Link could hear and feel his heart pounding now from fear, and he was breathing hard too. The ghastly skulls weren't the only things in the room however. Several large, pale, dead looking arms were sticking up out of the floor as well. As he started toward one, it suddenly bent down and grabbed a hold of him by the face! Young Link immediately started struggling as he heard something rise up out of the floor of skulls somewhere. Looking around with his eyes through the fingers of the hand that was over his face, Link saw a ghastly looking, huge blob with two arms, a long neck and a grotesque deformed head. The hand had an iron grip on him as Young Link struggled even harder now. The fear induced adrenaline flowing in his system however gave him some additional strength, and Young Link broke free just as the blob's head bent down to try and bite him. The Kokiri Sword was out in a flash as Young Link slashed at the deformed head. The slashes landed and the blob turned around and moved away from him, then dove back into the skulls. Young Link now walked around carefully as he tried to find where it would come back out, when he wandered to close to another one of the hands sticking out of the floor and promptly got grabbed again. The blob then rose back out and made toward him again, and this time Young Link didn't struggle like he did before. Instead, he waited until the blob got close again, and slashed first at the hand holding him to release himself, then at the deformed head again. Again the creature moved away from him and reburied itself. Young Link had to repeat this two more times, when with the final slash of his sword at the head, the creature collapsed and faded away, the arms sticking out of the skull floor disappearing as well. After the undead abomination vanished, a ball of light then flashed in the center of the room, leaving an iron bound chest behind as it faded. Young Link walked over to it, opened it, and found two small cases inside. He opened the cases and inside each was a strange pair of wire-rimmed eyeglasses.

'_Thou hast foundeth the Eyes of Truth.'_ The strange, ghostly voice said in his head again.

'_So these are the Eyes of Truth? Good thing there's two pairs of them. One pair for me, and one pair for Sango. Let's see what these things can do.'_ Young Link thought. He closed one of the cases up and put it in a pocket while he took the glasses out of the other case and put the empty case in his pocket as well, then put on the glasses. He then started to look around in the room he was in, when he saw something he hadn't seen before. In the back of the room was a small chest he hadn't seen earlier while fighting the undead blob. While still looking at it, Young Link took off the glasses for a moment, the chest disappearing when he did so. When he put the glasses back on, the chest reappeared. Young Link then smiled as he walked over to the chest to open it. Inside it was a gold rupee worth 200 rupees! Young Link then left the room and made his way back to the main room of the dungeon. Young Link immediately saw now that with his new pair of glasses, the fake wall he had walked through to enter the dungeon was gone. Further testing the glasses, he went back to where he had fallen through the fake floor earlier and saw the hole he had fallen through, and he grinned a wide grin. _'This dungeon has just now gotten a whole lot safer.'_ he thought, and proceeded to more fully explore the place, finding several alcoves in the walls containing keys for some locked doors he had seen that he otherwise would have missed completely had it not been for the Truth Glasses as he now called them.

Eventually, his exploring led him to a room with several coffins and two strange statues in the back of it. One of the coffins was open with a mummy standing beside it, but it had not noticed him. Young Link decided not to take any chances with killing it, and instead got out the Ocarina, and played yet another new tune on it, called the Sun's Song. The mummy was then frozen in place for while. Behind the coffin it was standing next to was a lit brazier, and Young Link noticed unlit braziers behind each of the other coffins. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small stick to use to light the braziers, using the lit brazier to light the stick. Every time he lit an unlit brazier, the coffin closest to it opened. Bats flew out of most of them, Young Link quickly using his slingshot to take care of them. However, when he opened one coffin, another mummy started to climb out of it! Young Link quickly ran away, getting the Ocarina back out and rapidly replaying the Sun's Song to quickly freeze it. Only when he had all the coffins open did he check them, finding another key in one. He then left the room and mummies behind. Unlocking the doors he found netting him some more rupees. Satisfied that he had now found everything he could find in the dungeon, Young Link cast Farore's Wind again to teleport himself back to the entrance to leave. He re-appeared in the green-ball of light he created earlier and dropped down to the floor, the ball of light disappearing. He then re-entered the crawlspace and exited back out to wind up in the bottom of the Kakariko Village well again. He got the Ocarina back out and played the Prelude of Light to warp back to the Temple of Time so he could travel back to the future with the Master Sword.

-

InuYasha and Miroku were been busy helping the Hylian villagers proceed with repairs to the fire damaged buildings of Kakariko, working despite the still falling rain. Kagome and Sango meanwhile were in Rhape's house chatting with her.

"You know Miroku, Link sure has been gone for a good while. It was morning when he left, and now the sun's starting to set. I would have figured with those teleporting songs of his, he would have been finished and back by now." InuYasha said as he used a small hammer to nail shingles down to a roof that had been damaged. Miroku then thought for a moment as he held the shingle in place that InuYasha currently was driving a nail through with the hammer.

"Well, now that I think about it InuYasha, I think Link may have had to travel back to Kakariko on foot after he came out of the Temple of Time. I don't think he could have used the Nocturne of Shadow to just warp here." Miroku then said.

"Why do you say that? Okay, next shingle." InuYasha asked, not looking up as he finished hammering and moving on to the next one as Miroku slid it in place.

"Think about it InuYasha. Sango said that spot they warped to when Link used that song was on top of a ledge. I don't think Link would want to try jumping down off of that while in a child's body. He probably would've gotten hurt. He has to be more careful when he's back in the past." InuYasha then shook his head.

"Hmph. It sure would have been nice then if I could've gone back with him. When I was that age, I had already been on the run from demons and humans alike for awhile and had fully discovered my Iron Reaver Soul Stealer and Blades of Blood attacks by then, and found I could hold my own pretty well in a fight. I wouldn't have been hampered if I could've gone back with him, and him and Sango would've probably already gone back into the Shadow Temple by lunch." InuYasha said grumpily.

"True InuYasha, but I don't think you would've enjoyed falling through fake floors and not knowing it until it was too late." they both then heard a voice say. InuYasha and Miroku turned around to see Link staring up at them. He had used to Nocturne of Shadow to warp back to the graveyard after re-pulling the Master Sword. He was not wearing the eyeglasses.

"Hey Link! You're back! It's about time!" InuYasha said as Miroku climbed onto his back and he jumped down from the roof of the building they were repairing. Miroku then got off of his back and they both walked over to him.

"Hey, I had to walk all the way back to Kakariko on foot after I left the Temple of Time, that's why it took so long. Let's go and see the others, and I'll tell you all about what happened." They all then went back over to Rhape's house and went in. Kagome and Sango were relieved to see Link again, and he told them all about his adventure underneath Kakariko Village in the past.

"Are you serious? A dungeon like that is actually underneath this quaint village?" Rhape said in an exasperated and somewhat frightened voice.

"That's right, but don't worry. The entrance to it is sealed now by a big rock at the bottom of the well, so it can't be entered now, and for good reason." Link said.

"I'll say. I've heard of devilish 'fun houses' before in horror movies, but that dungeon takes the cake." Kagome then said, gulping from imagining the things that Link had described.

"I'm glad I didn't have to go with you Link. I would've have been scared stiff." Shippo said, trembling slightly from fright after hearing Link's tale.

"Damn! I missed out on some good exploring." InuYasha said. Link meanwhile, pulled the cases containing the pairs of glasses out of his pocket.

"What are those?" Miroku asked as Link opened the cases.

"These are what I found in that horrid dungeon. Once I found them, moving around in that place became much, _much _safer. Sango, that wall we saw in the Shadow Temple is apparently just like those fake walls, floors and ceilings I encountered. These glasses remove the illusion from your eyes so you see what's actually there instead of the illusion. I'm sure that if we wear these the next time we enter the Shadow Temple, we won't see that wall that we saw before." Link said as he handed one of the glasses and its case to Sango.

"I've never seen something like this before. Kagome, are these common place in your time?" Sango asked her as she examined and looked over the pair of glasses.

"Yes Sango they are. They allow people with vision problems to see normally so their vision problems aren't an impedance on their daily lives. And you can get them in all sorts of styles too, so they are also somewhat of a fashion statement as well."

"Wow! They look neat! Sango can I try them on?" Shippo then asked. Sango looked at him, sighed and shook her head.

"I'm afraid not Shippo. You might break them, and then I won't be able to accompany and help Link." she replied. A disappointed look crossed Shippo's face, and he sighed.

They all then had a wonderful supper cooked by Rhape and bedded down for the night. The next morning, Link and Sango left for the Shadow Temple, both of them wearing their new illusion-dispelling glasses.

-

_Author's Notes:_

_Okay, an explanation for why this chapter has been so long in coming. Recently I have been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Stage II, a very curable form of cancer that commonly appears in young adults in my age range (22). Firstly, don't be worried about me. This form of cancer I have has a 95 to 99 survival rate, so I've got lots of faith that I'm going to make it through this okay. I am now 1 ½ months into 6 months of chemotherapy and so the days I can actually spend writing are a little limited now. I had to wait and see what kind of effect the chemo would have on me and how many days it would effect me between treatments to gauge how often I'd be able to continue writing. Well, I'm pretty certain now of what I can and cannot do while on the chemotherapy, and when I can write and when I cannot. The writing of this story is now back up and running._

_Alright, back to the story. I decided to turn the Lens of Truth into a pair of glasses so that Link and Sango will be able to fight the upcoming Shadow Temple boss without any restriction, since this is not the actual game we are dealing with here. Did I do a good job of scaring any of you with this chapter? I hope so! Next, the Shadow Temple!_


	20. A Temple Full of Death, Part I

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Nineteen: _A Temple Full of Death, Part I_

Link and Sango both put on their new pairs of Truth Glasses before reentering the cave that led down to the entrance of the Shadow Temple. Link again used his fire magic spell to reopen the door, and they both entered.

Once inside, Link's suspicions about the wall were found to be correct. With the Truth Glasses, they both saw that the wall on the other side of the chasm just inside the entrance was fake.

"Sango, grab on to me. I'm going to have to use my Longshot to pull us across the gap. When we get to the other side, grab onto the ledge and pull yourself up." Link said as he got his Longshot out.

"Right." Sango said as she put her arms around Link's waist. Link took aim and fired. Sango was surprised some at the suddenness of being pulled along with Link, but kept it from distracting her has she let go of him and grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up as Link did. They then walked through the fake wall and looked around. The room they were now in was large, and dark too. Dark brown brick composed the walls, and on most of them were more of the eerie carvings that appeared to be exactly the same as the fake wall they had walked through to enter. Looking at some of them, they both saw that one other carving besides the one they had walked through was fake as well. In the center of the room was a large stone column with a statue of a horrid looking gargoyle sitting on top of it, with a large stone handle sticking out of the column toward the only source of light in the room, a brass candelabra sitting on the stone floor with candles seemingly made out of dried blood burning in its candle stands. Surrounding the large column too was five smaller columns that, along with the candelabra formed a complete circle around the large center column. At first glance, it appeared that each outer column was topped with a skull, but thanks to the Truth Glasses, Sango and Link both saw that only one was actually topped with a skull. Beyond the candelabra meanwhile, was a large pit from which the sounds of growling and the gnashing of fangs and teeth could be heard. They both walked up to the edge of the pit and looked down. At the bottom of the deep pit was a huge horde of horrid monsters that looked up at them hungrily and started fighting one another to try and climb the walls of the pit to get up at them. Across from them, on the back wall of the room directly across from the pit ledge, was a large statue of a face, the mouth open forming a gate that was barred. The tongue meanwhile extended out some from the wall and served as a small platform. Link and Sango backed away from the pit and looked at the column.

"Should we try and turn the handle?" Link wondered.

"I'm not sure. Maybe we should try and explore the other passage." Sango replied. Just then, next to the handle of the column, light started to gather and an apparition appeared. He was an elderly Hylian who was wearing robes.

"Brave souls who have come to bind the shadows," the apparition started, "be very careful in this Temple. You are wise to have procured the Eyes of Truth before entering, but you must be on your guard at all times. The horrors of this temple are unlike anything seen by the eyes of living men, and the beast within a foul spawn and incarnation of the artifacts I and the other Royal Mages attempted to destroy and could not, but were instead forced to seal in this dreaded place. Keep your wits about you. In parting, turn the handle of the column only toward the skull that is not illusory, or you shall surely meet your end." The apparition then faded away.

"Let's do what he said then. Sango, you see which skull he was referring to?" Link then said.

"Uh huh. I'm ready." Sango replied. They both then grasped the stone handle and began grunt and groan as they slowly started to turn it, the sound of stone grinding against stone filling the room. After turning the handle to the right skull, the gate in the statue on the far side of the room that was over the pit, slid open with a metallic groan. They both walked back over to the ledge, the monsters in the pit then resuming their growling. Link sighed.

"What's wrong Link? Can't we just use your Longshot to get across?" Sango asked.

"There's nothing for it to dig into. It can't dig into stone and brick. We're going to have to find another way across or find something that'll get us across this pit without falling to our deaths." Link said. "Let's go down that other passageway and see what we can find." They then turned and headed into the passageway hidden by the other fake wall. At the end of it was an iron door. The site that greeted them on the other side made Sango gasp, and then gulp.

They had stepped into a passage that served as a catacomb! Along the walls were numerous niches in which numerous skeletons lay. As they neared one particular niche, the skeleton's jaw spontaneously dropped open. The skeleton then began to sit up on its own! Sango and Link jumped back, startled.

"Shadow Temple…here is buried Hyrule's history of blood, greed, hatred, and…war." The skeleton said in an undead voice, its jaw clacking as it moved. The skeleton then collapsed back onto its back with a clatter. Sango was breathing heavily, fear visibly gripping her, while Link looked around uneasily. They both shook their heads for a moment to clear them, and then continued to explore the catacomb passage, trying to be oblivious to the skeletons that lay in the other niches.

They found another fake wall and walked down the passage that was behind to another door. Beyond it was a room that was similar to the one in the well dungeon that Link had found the Truth Glasses in, with its walls, floor and ceiling composed of skulls, that unnerved Sango some when they entered it, and the door barred shut behind them when it closed. Inside was a solitary zombie like the kind they'd seen roaming around the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, and two bats. Sango made the mistake of getting into the zombie's line of sight and she was frozen in place, paralyzed. However, that provided Link with the distraction he needed to circle around behind the zombie and hack it to pieces with the Master Sword. No sooner than she was unfrozen however that one of the bats then flew into Sango's face, biting her. She instinctively used one hand to smack away the bat, while the other hand reached for the hilt of her katana, and the bat sliced in two an instant later. Link meanwhile found where the other bat was roosting in the room and used his Longshot to skewer it. A ring of light brought a large chest then into the room. Opening it gave them the map to the temple.

They left the room and reentered the catacomb passages and looked for fake walls and hidden passages. The only other one they found led them to another room walled, floored, and roofed with skulls, but there was a major difference this time. Inside this one Link saw the same kind of undead hands sticking out from the skulls that he had seen in well dungeon.

"Wait, Sango. Don't get close to the hands. They'll grab you. This is the same kind of enemy I fought to get the Truth Glasses in the first place. Here's what we'll do. I'll let one of them grab me, and when the main monster rises from the floor, you attack it." Link whispered. Sango nodded in agreement. Link then crept slowly toward one of the hands. When it reached down to grab him, Link stayed calm and did not flinch when he started to work himself free. The undead blob that was the main body of the monster rose out of the floor while the other arms sank into the floor.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted as she flung the weapon at the monster. This fight was over quicker than they both could have imagined, as the Hiraikotsu cleanly cleaved the monster completely in two. The hand holding Link went limp and the two halves of the body then dissolved.

"Wow! Sango I wish now you could have come with me into the past. That Hiraikotsu of yours would have come in handy in killing the first of those I fought." Link said with a grin as he approached the new chest that had appeared in the room.

"Unfortunately, I would have been turned into a kid too, so I wouldn't have been able to use it." Sango replied. Confused looks both came to their faces when Link opened the chest. Inside were two pairs of boots that strangely had wings attached to them.

"What are these?" Link asked to nobody in particular.

"Those are the strangest pair of shoes I've ever seen. Let's try 'em on." said Sango. Both her and Link then put on the boots. Immediately, they both felt a little lighter than normal. A thought then came to Link.

"In these boots I feel lighter, while with the other boots, I was heavier…I got an idea, Sango. Let's actually try to cross that pit now." He thought.

"I don't know Link. If what you're thinking is wrong, we're both going to die. You know that right?" Sango said with a lot of doubt evident in her voice.

"I'm willing to take a leap of faith. I've had to before. Besides, I've got a suspicion these boots are the only help we're going to find to cross that pit." Sango then sighed and they both walked back to the column room and up to the pit. Sango said a brief prayer to Buddha, and Link said one to Nayru, both prayers asking for safety and protection. Link then took a deep breath, and stepped out over the pit onto thin air. Amazingly, a white cloud of energy appeared in the air right where he stepped! Link did not hesitate and quickly walked across to the face and tongue platform on the other side, the monsters below hungrily growling up at him as he walked across. Sango was completely pole-axed at this sight. After a few moments, she gathered up her courage and started across as well.

Just as she was nearing the platform unfortunately, Sango made a huge mistake. She looked down into the pit and saw all the snarling, growling monsters. Fear suddenly gripped her, and then the energy supporting her dissipated and she started to fall!

"SANGO!" Link yelled as Sango let out a bloodcurdling scream. Things seemed to move in slow motion for Link as he reached down and grabbed one of Sango's outstretched arms in a deathgrip with his hands. At the same time, the monsters started leaping up and snapping at Sango's ankles, each one coming within inches of taking out a hunk of flesh.

Link now grunted and groaned as he strained to lift Sango up onto the platform with him. After a few moments of struggling, they were both safely sitting on the tongue shaped platform. Sango was now panting so hard she was close to hyperventilating.

"Thanks…Link! You…saved…my life! What happened?" she said in between pants.

"Sango, I think you doubted in the boots' ability to get you across. I think that's what happened. I put my complete faith and confidence in them." Link said too as he panted some also from the effort of lifting her to safety. Sango thought for a second. Then nodded.

"Yes, you're right. I didn't put my complete confidence in them. I won't make that mistake again. Let's move on." she said. Link nodded, and they got up and walked on through the doorway at the other end of the platform. Sango had to take her Hiraikotsu off her back and carry it in her arms to get it to fit.

The passageway that they now walked down led them to a crossroads room. The sound of the wailing dead greeted them as they approached it. When they got to the entrance of it, they looked up towards the ceiling and saw several zombies hanging from the ceiling via chains around their arms. The zombies were wiggling around too, trying to get free, but not having any success, and moaning. In the center of the room was what looked to be a strange ornamental statue, the top of which was rotating. Link recognized the statue as a Beamos. Before he could warn her, Sango had walked into the room and got a little too close the Beamos. The statue's head snapped around at her and fired a laser beam at her. Sango's lightning quick reflexes kicked in and she back-flipped out of the way, but she was unnerved some when one of her legs wound up kicking one of the hanging zombies. The zombie started swinging like a pendulum, it's groaning increasing in aggravation, and one of its feet detached and fell to the floor, landing right in front of Sango. Sango shivered for a moment.

"That…was close." she said.

"I've encountered those things before. I know how to handle 'em." Link said. He got out his bag of explosives, lit one of his bombs and threw it at the base of the statue. The bomb detonated on contact, blasting apart the base and sending the head flying up into the air. The head then impacted one of the hanging zombies, detonating like a bomb as well and blasting the zombie into chunky kibbles! Blood, bone, and flesh flew everywhere and Sango shielded herself from the flying body parts with the Hiraikotsu as Link whipped out his shield to do the same.

"Blech! I wasn't expecting that!" Link said as he used the Master Sword to scrape the gibs off his shield.

"That's one of the few things in here that hasn't gotten to me. I'm used to having stuff like that happen when slaying youkai." Sango said she used her katana to scrape off the Hiraikotsu. Now they looked around the room. There appeared to be three other passages besides the entrance. Without the Truth Glasses, it would have appeared that all three were blocked off with walls of skulls. But with the Glasses on, they saw that two of the walls, the walls off to the sides of the entrance were fake. The skull wall directly opposite was real however. Link had a suspicion about that one. Pulling another bomb out of his explosives bag, he lit it and threw it at the wall. When it detonated, the wall collapsed, sending shattered pieces of skull flying everywhere. Behind it was the first locked door they both had encountered.

"OK. We're not going that way yet. We don't have any keys. Which way then, left or right?" Sango wondered.

"Let's try going right first. We'll have to backtrack here and try the other direction eventually anyway." Link replied. They both set off down the passageway to the right. The unlocked door at the end of it opened into another skull-walled and ceiling roomed. There were two burning candelabras in it, along with a pair of mummies that were standing around. "Sango, don't attack them! Let me do something first." Link quickly whispered to her. He then quickly got out the Ocarina and rapidly played the Sun's Song. Both mummies were then frozen in place. "Now attack them! Take 'em out quick too. These things are VERY dangerous." Link again whispered as he quietly unsheathed the Master Sword and his shield.

Sango ran up behind one of the mummies and hacked it to pieces with her Hiraikotsu while Link slashed and diced up the other one. When they finished, another bound chest appeared between the candelabras. Inside it was a compass.

"What's that thing?" Sango asked. She'd never seen such a device before.

"It points in the general direction of the monster's lair so we can more easily find it. Let's check out the other passage." replied Link as they left the room and made their way to the other passage. The room on the other side of the door revealed a very grisly sight!

The room itself was large. In the center were two giant Grim Reaper-looking statues holding holding giant sickles horizontally that were rotating slowly, making the room similar to the ice-scythe equipped room in the Ice Cavern. But that wasn't what had Sango and Link shivering suddenly. What had unnerved them again was that first, the blades of the statues' sickles were covered in dried blood. On the tip of one of the sickles too was a skeleton that had been skewered through and was being dragged along, apparently for a long time too, as the skeleton's legs had been ground down to the ankles from being drug along the stone floor. The skull of the skeleton meanwhile was slowly bobbing around too as it continued to be drug. Attached to one of the shafts of the sickles too was another skeleton, this one however blackened as if it had been burned or roasted. To top it all off, bodies that had apparently been cleaved by the sickles were strewn everywhere in the room too. Some were missing limbs, others had been decapitated, while others had been completely cleaved in two at the torso. The stench of the dead too was strong, so strong in fact that Sango got out her youkai slayer mask and put it on after getting over her initial shock of the room's sights. Link, not having such a luxury, started feeling light headed from the stench. To top it all off, they both saw that like in the Ice Cavern, there were silver rupees to collect in the path of the deadly sickles. There were also several alcoves in the room, huge wooden timbers laying on the floor below the rotating sickles, and a barred up alcove that'd be opened up when the rupees were collected. In the alcove was a small chest.

"Sango, please pinch me, I want to wake up from this nightmare." said Link. Sango reached over pinched his side good and hard. "OUCH! Crap. This is not a dream, this is real. I was afraid of that." Link then said, bowing his head and his hand then covering his face.

"I don't think we should try to jump the sickles. That blackened skeleton, from the way its positioned, looks as if they tried, and something fried them as a result." Sango said, then continued. "Link, let me do this. Since I'm in my exterminator gear now, I can move a whole lot easier. I had to learn elite dodging skills during my exterminator training, so I can handle this better."

"Fine by me. I'm surprised I wasn't killed when I had to dodge that ice scythe in the Ice Cavern." replied Link, sighing in relief. Sango removed Hiraikotsu from her back and laid it on the floor, along with her katana. She then carefully walked around the room, beyond the reach of the sickles, to study and memorize the exact location of the rupees she had to grab. Link meanwhile, carefully made his way over to the barred up passageway to wait for it to open. After several minutes of careful studying and memorizing, Sango was ready. She took a deep breath and began to hop and flip her way around the room, her movements catlike as she grabbed each one of the rupees, the barred alcove opening as soon as she grabbed the last one. She had developed the path she'd take such that after she grabbed the last one she'd wind up at the exact spot she'd laid the Hiraikotsu and her katana. Link entered the alcove and opened the chest, finding the key they'd been looking for. They returned to the room with the hanging zombies and unlocked the door.

The passageway behind was populated by giant spiders that they dispatched easily, Sango only using her katana to take care of hers. Turning a corner, they stopped. They were now in a hallway where, blocking their path, were several sets of guillotines that were set up down the length of it! There was more too. At the base of each guillotine too was a skeleton or two that had been chopped in half, and there were dried bloodstains on the blades of the guillotines as well. Each guillotine was continuously rising and then falling in it's own pattern. Sango and Link studied the movements of each one carefully before attempting to pass under each one, timing their movements to coincide with the rising of each guillotine's blade. Continuing on, they came to a massive, _massive_ cavern that was unlike anything either of them had seen.

In the cavern were platforms that had more guillotines, but there were also moving platforms that seemed to be floating in midair! A wind was also howling loudly, thick with the smell of the dead, while all the floating platforms were floating over a seemingly endless black void. Flaming winged creatures were flying around as well, but they were not bats. Instead, they looked like baby sized gargoyles. They were both surprised however that the gargoyle-like creatures were seeming to ignore them as well.

Before they proceeded, Sango briefly removed her Truth Glasses and looked around without them on. When she did, all the floating platforms had disappeared, meaning they were normally invisible. She put the glasses back on, and her and Link then started to carefully negotiate the guillotine-equipped platforms. When they got to one large platform, a pair of Stalfos, the same type of skeleton warriors that Link and Kagome had battled in the Forest Temple, dropped down from above. Link's Master Sword and shield were out in a flash, and Sango quickly put up the Hiraikotsu and blocked the sword blow of the one that was facing her.

"Link, are these those 'Stalfos' things you said you and Kagome had to take on in the Forest Temple?" Sango asked.

"Yes. They are." Link replied as him and his Stalfos started trading and parrying sword blows. Sango only defended against her Stalfos' attacks initially, studying it's attack pattern. After a few moments of defending, her moment came. The Stalfos swung at her, and Sango jumped up and in the same motion, delivered a smashing roundhouse kick to the Stalfos' skull, shattering it. The Stalfos had now been rendered blind, confusing it briefly. Sango took that moment to swing Hiraikotsu in a devastating downward slash that busted up the rest of the Stalfos in one strike. Sango then turned around, noticing Link was making slow progress against his Stalfos, and decided to help him out. Unsheathing her katana, she skewered the Stalfos' skull on it and pulled upward hard, yanking the skull completely off and sending it flying into the abyss. Link finished off the rest of the skeleton warrior with a hard diagonal slash after its shield lowered down.

"Not bad Sango. That looked pretty good." Link complimented her.

"That was nothing." Sango replied. They looked around and noticed another platform rising and falling to the side of the one they were standing on, Link held out his hand to stop Sango as he carefully walked up to the edge and watched the platform.

"Sango, follow my lead. I'm going to wait for the platform to fall all the way down, then jump down to it. You go after I do." He said, and Sango nodded. Link now waited for the platform to drop, and he then jumped off toward it bending his legs to prepare for the impact. He landed and grunted loudly on the moving platform as it had just started to rise. On the platform's next falling and rising cycle, Sango joined him. As the platform rose back up, they approached an edge of it and jumped to an adjacent to a walkway leading to another large open area of the cavern. In that area were two sets of spike cubes rotating around another Beamos, and another barred passage. There were several silver rupees as well, that Sango began to collect using her reflexes and training to avoid the spikes. When she grabbed the last one however, the barred passage did not open up however. A confused look came to Sango's face when she rejoined Link.

"Well, what now? That looks like all of them." she thought out loud. Link looked at the Beamos, then snapped his fingers. "What is it?" Sango asked. Link didn't reply. He instead got out another explosive and carefully approached the Beamos, mindful of the still moving spike cubes on the floor. When he was in range, he lit and threw the explosive at the Beamos. What was left after the bomb had detonated was the last rupee as Link back flipped out of the way, and Sango quickly dashed and retrieved it.

Link took off his Truth Glasses for a moment to rest his eyes a little as they walked through the newly opened passage. Turning a few corners led them to another grisly room that made them both gulp and shake their heads again to get used to what they saw. In the room was a passage between two prison like cells, with two large spike covered plates falling from the ceiling to the floor! The cells were a separate part of the room with their on ceilings and roofs. Several chains attached to the plates that ran up to the main, higher ceiling were pulling the plates back up about twenty feet before they dropped again.

In the area beneath the falling spike plates, Link and Sango both saw several mangled skeletons, and dried blood covered the floor there as well. They both also saw two trails of dried blood running from that area to an alcove off to the side next to the doorway where another skeleton lay, this one with a cracked pelvis and a huge hole in it's rib-cage.

"Shimatta." Sango cursed. "What sick minded worshiper of oni designed this place? Link, tell me this place was built in this demented fashion for a real reason." she said.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I'm guessing it was built this way to keep robbers from escaping with any of the artifacts. I'm confused we haven't come across any of those yet, maybe they're locked in a hidden room or something. I'm theorizing that originally the stone door in that cave was the only thing sealing this place, and soon, those up to no good had figured out how to open that door. The barrier at the cave entrance must have been put in place only after the Sheikah warned that even though no evildoers entering had yet to make it out alive, eventually, a thief would enter _and_ find a way through all the traps and manage to leave with an artifact, so they finally put a cave barrier up to ensure only a select few could even approach the entrance." Link then looked around and a frown crossed his features. "How are we going to get past those falling plates? It doesn't look like there's anything we can use to block them, and I don't think my shield and your Hiraikotsu will hold up if we try to use them." Sango then tapped his shoulder.

"Uh Link, slide your Glasses back on over your eyes. They're currently on your forehead." Sango pointed.

"Oh." Link said as he remembered he'd taken the Glasses off to rest his eyes. After putting them back on, Sango pointed behind him. He turned, and saw behind another fake wall a large block they could pull out and push underneath the spikes. Link nodded, and they walked over to it and started to push it out, groaning from the effort. That done, they rested a few moments, then started to push the block into the path of the falling spike plates. As they pushed, they heard the sound of clattering bones as the skeletons were pushed out of the way. The first plate started landing on the block above them, then the second after pushing the block a few more feet and stopped to rest again, the task completed. It was unnerving to them both though to look up and see the spike plates landing on the block just a few feet above their heads.

Now they looked around to survey the area they had just opened up. The prison cells around had some supplies in them, but on the other side of the passage where the falling spike plates were, Link noticed something.

"Sango, let's pull that block the rest of the way and push it to here." He said, pointing to a wall in front of them. "I think we need to climb that block." Sango nodded, and they started pulling the block to the wall Link had directed. They now found they could climb the block and get on top of the walls, a treasure chest containing other key being what they found. They went back to the giant cavern, and made their way to another locked door and through.

The next room had groups of spikes sticking up from the floor in places, each one complete with a few skewered bodies on some of the spikes, and dried blood and skewered skeletons on others. A raised platform with a another locked door was on one wall. There were also more silver rupees to collect for Sango, some of them suspended over the spikes. She again used a series of flips to safely grab them, unbarring another doorway. Beyond it they entered a chamber with a huge mound of complete skeletons just heaped together in the center of the floor, blood raining from the ceiling, and huge stairways leading up to a platform behind it. They found and disposed of some roosting bats on the top of the platform, and Sango noticed some strange, large, egg-looking plants that were growing out of the floor.

"Link, what are these things?" Sango asked as she did the worst thing she could've done: she picked it. A confused look came to Sango's face when the plant started sparking, while a look of horror came to Link's

-

_Okay! I'm back. This is going to be in two parts because it was getting too long (14 pages and counting) for me post up all at once, so here's part one of the Shadow Temple._


	21. A Temple Full of Death, Part II

-1The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter Twenty: _A Temple Full of Death, Part II_

Link didn't think, he only reacted. He dashed over, yanked the now smoking plant out of her hands and threw it into the pile of skeletons.

"Hey! What's the big-" Sango started to say, but was cut off. KA-BOOM The pile of skeletons exploded from the Bomb Flower detonating that Link had yanked out of Sango's hands and thrown. Sango's eyes went wide as bones, skulls, and ribs went flying everywhere and both of them had to shield themselves.

"Sango, don't pick those things. They're Bomb Flowers and explode shortly after you pick them. Let me be the one to pick them." Link said after the room was silent again.

"Sorry, I had no idea." Sango replied.

"Just remember not to pick those things." Link then looked at where the bone pile had been, and saw a glint of something metallic. Jumping down and rummaging through it, he found another key. The went back into spiked-floor room and approached the raised platform. Looking up, Link saw another Longshot target in the ceiling over the platform. "Sango, grab on." She did. Link now aimed for the target and fired the Longshot, and they were both hoisted up onto the platform. Link unlocked the door and they continued on. Rounding a corner of the hallway they were now in, they were both suddenly hit by a blast of air that pushed them back hard, the air blast enough to knock both of them completely off their feet.

"What the…?" Sango asked as her and Link started to pick themselves up off the floor. They looked down the corridor and saw a huge fan at the end that was starting up and then stopping. More of the spiked blocks were on the floor, sliding back and forth. Several zombies meanwhile were nailed to the stone walls of the corridor by their hands and feet, groaning and mumbling incoherently. They watched the fan briefly, timing its starting and stopping for a few moments, then ran down the corridor, avoiding the spike blocks while the fan was stopped. Rounding the next corner, there was another fan at the end of the next corridor. When it stopped they ran forward. However, as they reached the middle of the corridor, a giant spider dropped down from a concealed hole in the ceiling and attacked Link, grabbing a hold of him. It was about to bite him when Sango's katana flashed and she skewered the spider on it! The fan started up again, and Sango quickly hacked off the legs of the spider with her katana that were keeping it attached to Link as they were both blown back by the air blast. The spider's corpse remained hanging in the middle of the corridor.

"Whew! Thanks for the backup!" Link told her.

"Don't mention it." Link now pulled his bow off his back and took aim at the spider's corpse and fired at it after pulling the arrow back as far as willing to try without snapping the bow. The arrow shot through the spider with such force that the spider's body was sent flying back into the stopped fan blades. When the blades restarted, the corpse was chopped and diced up into bits. After it stopped, Link and Sango continued on. The next leg of the corridor had another fan at the end of it but there was a pit in front of them too. Link saw a wooden beam sticking out of the ceiling above the fan.

"Sango, grab on to me and hold on tight. I'm going to Hookshot us over." Sango wrapped her arms around Link firmly as he got the Hookshot back out and took aim at the beam. When the fan stopped he fired, and they were yanked across the pit, falling into another hole on the side. They fell eight feet and landed in a pile into an alcove opening up into a room that had a walkway spanning a large pit. In the walls to the sides of the walkway were three more of the fans, each one starting up and stopping in its own pattern. Sango raised an eyebrow at the sight. They both noticed a fake wall hiding an alcove opposite the third fan that was revealed by the Truth Glasses.

"Well, how are going do to this? With those fans starting up and stopping like they are we can't just stop right in front of one while waiting for another to stop. The one we're in front of may start up again." she said.

"Sango, you wait here. I'm going to try this first. I'm going to try crawling across. Watch what I do and copy my movements after I'm on the other side." Link said.

"OK." Link now dropped down to a prone stance and started to creep slide forward on his forearms and knees slowly. He waited until the first fan had stopped before crawled in front and pass it, and stopped between it and the next one. While he was waiting for the second one to stop, the first fan started up again. Link held his breath and grabbed onto the sides of the walkway to keep from being blown off. The second one then stopped, and Link continued forward. He continued this until he was all the way across. Sango then followed, copying his movements. The door at the end of the walkway opened up into yet another room lined with skulls, with two more zombies within. A panel with strange writing was on the back wall and a small chest was on the floor. Link whipped out the Ocarina and played the Sun's Song to freeze them, and him and Sango then dispatched them. When they finished Sango walked up to the panel, while link opened up the chest, finding more arrows within. "What does this say?" she asked. Link joined her in looking at it.

"'_If you have sacred feet, let the wind guide you.'"_ Link read. "Could that be referring to the alcove we saw?" He wondered out loud.

"Maybe. Why don't we try it?" Sango replied. Link nodded and they left the room. Link first walked in front of the last fan and turned to face the hidden alcove. When the fan started, he ran forward, the special boots levitating him across. Sango then followed, this time trusting completely in the boots and making it across safely as a result, there was another door in the alcove.

The skull-walled room they now found themselves in had two mummies, two spike cubes on the floor and a locked door at the back. A rendition of the Sun's Song on the Ocarina froze them, and a few slashes and hacks from the Master Sword and the Hiraikotsu took care of them. While she was taking care of dispatching the mummy she had chosen, a pot in the room suddenly and mysteriously lifted off the floor and flew at Sango!

"Sango! Look out!" Link shouted, but he was too late, and Sango got nailed in the side of the head by the pot as he landed the killing blow to the mummy. The pot shattered and Sango dropped to her knees in daze. Link ran over to her after taking care his mummy. "Sango! Sango! You alright?" Link asked her.

"Owww. What was that?" Sango asked groggily.

"You got hit by a flying pot. Think you can stand up?"

"Not yet, my head's still spinning." Sango stayed there, on her knees, for a few moments and shakily got back to her feet. She shook her head a little, and now walked up to the door, and sighed.

"Link, you don't have any keys. Am I right?" she asked.

"You are. But before we leave and go find another one, let me check around the room here." Link replied, then starting to look around the room closely. He noticed a pile of bones in a corner and started to sift through them. Soon, he came upon a translucent chest at the bottom of the pile. Removing his Truth Glasses for a moment, he saw that the chest disappeared completely. "Sango, come over here." he said.

"What is it Link?" she replied as she walked over.

"You see the chest?"

"Yes."

"It disappears when you take the Glasses off. It's a good thing we have them, otherwise we would've missed this." Link said as opened the chest on pulled out of it the key they were looking for. What they found on the other side left them really confused. They now appeared to be standing on some sort of dock. Before them was a massive boat with a huge row of oars that was moored to the dock, floating in an underwater canal. The boat was huge, the deck of it high up enough that they'd need a ladder to get up in it. Looking around, they saw a platform to their right with a ladder hanging down that they couldn't reach. Off to the left at the end of the dock was a large block, the same kind of block they'd used to block the falling plates of spikes earlier. They walked over and began to pull the block to the ladder. As they did, Link looked and thought he saw a skeleton at one of the oars, but thought he was seeing things. They got the block up to the ladder, climbed it, then scaled the ladder to where they could board the boat, and Link saw he was not seeing things.

The boat was large, and along both sides of it, Link and Sango both saw a row of skeletons each manning an oar, eight skeletons and oars per side, for total of sixteen, all of which at the moment were motionless and slumped over their oars. There was a gap in the middle of each row, and filling the gap of the side facing toward the dock was a plank that bridged between the deck of the boat and the dock and would allow them to board. At the head of the boat was another skeleton which appeared to be slumped over a huge drum. In the middle of the deck was a large crest of the Triforce.

"I've seen some strange things before Link, but this is by far the strangest." said Sango, as she looked over all the skeleton rowers.

"You said it. But I think we've got no choice to board it. I've got an idea of what we have to do on it." Link said. Walking down the plank to board the boat, Link got the Ocarina back out.

"Well, what do we do now?" Sango asked out loud.

"This, I think." Link replied as he stood in the center of the Triforce crest and played Zelda's Lullaby on the Ocarina. A moment or so passed in silence after Link finished, but then they heard bones start to clatter all around them. First, the skeleton rhythm keeper at the head of the boat sat up clackily sat up, a pair of huge mallets in its hands, and it began to pound out a slow, steady beat on the drum. THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…THUMP Then the all the skeleton rowers slowly began to sit up, and in perfect unison, they began to row in perfect time and rhythm to the beat the rhythm keeper was keeping. The boat now slowly began to move forward and away from the dock, down the underground canal it was in. After the boat started moving, a thought came to Link.

"Something's wrong." he said.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked. No sooner had she said that then a trap door in the deck behind her opened and more skeletons started climbing out, but these were different. They didn't have shields, instead they wore crude, rusty, crumbling armor and were wielding a variety of different weapons. A few held swords, a few held flails, and some more wielding flanged maces.

"I knew the quietness was too good!" Link said as he started to swing the Master Sword in an X-shaped pattern in front of him and he began to advance on the skeletons. "Sango, I don't advise using your Hiraikotsu. You might take out some of the oarsmen, and we don't need that."

"Right." Sango said as her katana flashed back out and she jumped into the midst of the skeletons and started taking them down with kicks and punches. These skeletons were pathetically weak, but there were a lot of them. Link was doing just as good hitting the skeletons with his shield as he was using the Master Sword on them, while the sickening crack of bone breaking and/or shattering was accompanying each one of Sango's sword slashes, kicks, and punches, with skulls, arms, legs, and ribs flying after each one. Amid all this, the skeleton rowers and rhythm keeper kept right on oblivious to the chaotic fighting going on around them.

Sango and Link were both soaked with sweat and exhausted after the last skeleton was destroyed. Bones, pieces of armor and weapons littered every part of the deck. They didn't have time to rest yet however. As he was looking over the bow, stooped over with his hands on his knees, Link saw the end of the canal approaching, and his eyes opened wide.

At the end of the canal was a giant spike! Almost as big as the boat itself. In a panic, Link looked around off the sides of the boat and saw they were now passing by a platform on one side.

"Sango! Abandon ship! This thing's about to hit a giant spike and sink! Jump!" Link shouted at her, pointing toward the platform. Sango ran up to where he was standing and saw the spike as well. Both of the jumped from the bow toward the platform and braced for the hard landing that came.

"OWW!" Sango shouted when she landed. She dropped onto her back and started holding her leg.

"Sango, what happened?" Link asked. Before she could answer, the sound of splintering wood reached their ears as the small ship rammed into the spike and broke apart, the skeleton oarsmen being broke up too as it happened. Link turned his attention back to Sango.

"Ow, ow, ow! Link, I think I broke my leg!" Sango cried out, tears running down her face from the pain she was feeling.

"Sango, stay still. Don't move your leg." Link said as he started to examine her leg. Link gently laid it down flat, Sango grunting loudly, gritting her teeth and her tears turning into a river as he did it. The pain was causing Sango to start to gasp and pant rapidly. Link now pulled one of his bottles of medicine from his pouch. "Here Sango, drink this. The bones will start to mend themselves after you do." Sango took the bottle from him and started to sip from it slowly. Link, meanwhile looked around to observe their new surroundings.

The first thing Link noticed that across from where they were standing was another platform, with a large pit in between. He also saw a large pillar that looked like it was tall enough to bridge the gap, and looked at it more closely. Squinting his eyes, he saw a bunch of Bomb Flowers growing out of the floor at the base of the column, and an idea came to him. He walked back over to Sango.

"Sango, how's the leg? That medicine starting to help?" he asked her.

"Yeah, it is. Pain's gone down a lot but it still hurts pretty bad." she replied as she continued to sip the medicine. "What did you find looking aroud?"

"We're gonna have to wait for you to heal up first. There's a column on another platform that looks tall enough to bridge the gap across the pit between here and that platform. Problem is, I'm going to have to shoot at some Bomb Flowers to try and get it to fall over here, and when it lands it'll jar that leg of yours real bad."

"How long does this medicine take to do its work?" Sango now asked.

"About half an hour. It's only been ten minutes." Link said, as he sat down beside her and laid down to relax.

The remaining twenty minutes of Sango's recovery went by quick. Sango soon noticed that all the pain was gone, and she could move her leg freely, getting up.

"Link, I think my leg's healed up." she then said. Link, opened his eyes from dozing and got to his feet, stretching and working out the knots in his joins. He then got his bow out.

"Stand back Sango, I'm about to shoot." Link said as he aimed at the Bomb Flowers at the base of the column and fired. The arrow struck true and the bombs went off in a cacophony of explosions. The column shook and fell forward, the top of it landing on the platform they were standing on several feet from them. They could now walk across the column to the other side, which is what they did. On the other side only thing they found was a locked door, and Link was out of keys. They crossed back and found an unlocked door that Link hadn't noticed at first. The room they entered appeared to be empty, but then they heard a hideous laughter.

"What's that?" Sango wondered. Then in the middle of the room, black clouds formed up and the laughter got louder, and the clouds subsided, revealing a black robed looking mage who's face could not be seen because of his hood.

"Who are you?" Link shouted. The mage didn't say anything. Instead, he raised his arms up and started to chant in an arcane tongue, then leveled his arms at Sango. Sango immediately felt her body stiffen up, to where she couldn't move it, and her vision started go blurry. Link looked over at Sango, and noticed a deadpan look had come to her face, her eyes now seeming to just look straight ahead at nothing. "Sango, you alright?" he asked. What happened next shocked him.

Sango removed the Hiraikotsu from her back and hurled it at Link! A look of pure shock came to Link's face as he dove to keep from being cleaved in two by the massive boomerang.

Inside Sango's mind, she was in just as much shock, and now in a panic.

'_What am I doing? Why can't I control my body? My body won't respond to me! Link look out!' _her mind screamed. The mage's arcane chanting continued. Sango caught the boomerang and began to pursue Link around the room.

"Sango! What's gotten into you? Snap out of it!" Link shouted as Sango again threw the Hiraikotsu at him. Link dropped to a prone position to dodge it, to see Sango unsheathe her katana and race up to try and behead him as he lay on the ground. Link rolled off to the side to avoid the slash, unsheathing the Master Sword as he did. He blocked another strike from Sango, got to his feet, and him and Sango now began to duel. Link noticed tears emanating from Sango's eyes and rolling down her face as she was slashing at him with quick, sudden moves that Link was having trouble blocking.

'_So this is what it's like to be a puppet. Now I've seen for myself what its like for Kohaku. Link, kill me. It's the only way to save yourself. I don't wanna be a puppet. Please Link, kill me.'_ Sango's consciousness cried.

'_What the heck's gotten into Sango? Why is she doing this?'_ Link's mind raced as he continued to defend himself and block Sango's attacks. Link also heard the mage continuing to chant. _'That mage is controlling her, I'm sure of it. I've got to stop her, but not kill her.' _No sooner had Link thought that, but after Sango sent another sword strike at him and he blocked it, Sango pivoted on a leg and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to Link's cheek. POW! Link went down hard, spitting blood, but wasn't knocked out. He rolled over just in time to see Sango starting to try and run him through with her katana again. Link deflected the weapon and knocked it out of her hands and flying just inches before he would've been skewered, then got to his feet in a flash and crashed hard into her with his shield. Sango was sent staggering, and Link then dropped his shield and Master Sword and ran at Sango. She landed a left hook across his face, but Link ignored the pain and put his arms around her and slammed his knee into her stomach. She staggered again, but still tried to attack him. Link again grabbed her and started delivering strong, powerful punches to her ribs.

"Sango…forgive me…but its for…your own…good!" Link shouted, pounding her in the ribs with each phrase, the sound of his fists crashing into Sango's ribs loud and Sango grunting hard in pain from each punch.

The tears that had been streaming down Sango's face had now increased dramatically and turned from tears of sadness to tears of pain as she felt her ribs explode with pain again and again as each of Link's punches connected. She was no longer struggling to try and fight back, but now was resting her chin on Link's shoulder as he continued to pummel away at her ribs.

_'Hit me harder Link! Please, hit me harder! You're not hitting hard enough to kill me!'_ Sango screamed in her mind. Link had now noticed that even though Sango had been weakened, she still wasn't out. He then stepped away from her, reared back and delivered a right handed bomb right between her eyes. POW! Sango now went completely limp and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Now Link looked at the mage.

With his puppet now incapacitated, the mage was now trying to retreat out of the room, but Link wasn't having any of it. He dashed over and picked up his shield and the Master Sword, and ran at the mage. The mage raised up his hands and they started to glow. He then tried to fire lightning out of his hands, but Link went into a forward roll on the ground and came up with the Master Sword raised and brought it down onto the mage. The Master Sword cut a deep, bloody gash into the mage, and he dropped to his knees. Link now delivered a horizontal slash that took the mage's head off. After the rest of the body fell onto the floor, the corpse and head dissolved away into nothing. Link walked slowly back over to where Sango was laying, still out cold.

It was several minutes before Sango came to. When she did, she felt an immense and intense soreness from her ribs and around her eyes and part of her forehead.

"Owwww." she groaned as she opened her hurting eyes to see Link looking over her with a sad look.

"How bad did I hurt you Sango?" he asked in a slightly sad voice. Sango at first was confused for a second then it came back to her. She had been attacking Link, and eventually, Link had grabbed her and started punching her until she had been knocked out, and she realized why she was sore.

"Not too bad Link, I've had worse happen to me. Actually, I thank you for knocking me out like you did, I would have eventually killed you had you not done that. Where's the black robed guy?" she asked, now looking around.

"Cut his head off to punish him for possessing you after I knocked you out." Link responded with a tinge of anger, his eyes closed. Sango nodded as she retrieved her Hiraikotsu. Looking around, they saw three more doors in the room besides the one they came in through. They decided to check the door to right of where they entered first. They went inside, and immediately the door barred shut behind them, and a sound of clunky machinery engaging and running was heard. Looking around brought a look of horror to both Link and Sango's faces. On either side of them, walls of spikes were now slowly creeping toward them, and there appeared to be nothing in the room to use to brace the walls with.

"Oh great. What do we do now?" Sango looked around again worriedly. Link noticed something crucial about the walls.

"Sango, get in close to me! I'm going to try something. It may not work, but it's our only shot." Link said. Sango obliged him. "Alright, now duck and cover. Here goes!" After Sango dropped to her knees and covered up with her arms, Link again let loose his flame wall spell. As Link hoped, the spike walls were made of wood and the walls disintegrated in the walls of flame that sent out at them, revealing two zombies and an ornate chest. Link tapped Sango's shoulder and she stood up and went after a zombie while Link went after the other. Opening the ornate chest gave them the giant golden key they'd need to open the boss' monster's lair. They went back to the main room and entered the door across the room from the door they exited. The only thing in it is a strange, hand shaped monster, a Floor Master, that when Link attacked with the Master Sword, split into three smaller hands. Him and Sango then both quickly dispatched the mini-hands, a chest containing a key their reward. Exiting, they now made their way over the last door of the room they hadn't opened.

They were now in a room that was very similar to the earlier one where Sango had mistakenly picked the Bomb Flower, with two key differences. First off, it was not raining ash water in this room, but actual blood instead. The other difference was that there were not one, but _three_ piles of skeletons, on a platform that was spinning around. They made their way to the top of the platform behind the rotating piles of bones, and this time Sango stayed well clear of the bomb flowers as Link picked them and threw them into the bone piles. The explosions that followed left their ears ringing briefly, but unlike in the other room, there was nothing in these piles. They left, exited the room where the mage had been back to the platform and column area and made their way back to the locked door, and proceeded on.

It first appeared they had reached a dead end. The huge cavern they stepped into had another huge bottomless void. Across from the platform they stood on was the door they had been looking for with the massive lock on it. To somebody without the Truth Glasses however, it looked as if there was no way across. But Link and Sango both saw translucent platforms leading them across to the door. They jumped from platform to platform, reaching the door. Link used the huge, gold key Sango had been carrying to unlock the door. Stepping through they saw a huge hole in the floor and dropped down into it. They both landed on a giant drum, easily sixty feet in diameter, and saw two huge floating hands and a separate frightening looking floating monster that had a single large eye, no arms or legs apparently, and an irregularly shaped body.

"What is that thing?" Sango asked. Just then the hands started to pound out a beat on the giant drum they were standing on, and Sango and Link started being bounced up and down on the drumhead, but thanks to the boots they weren't losing their footing. Suddenly one of the hands grabbed Sango and started to squeeze her!

"Sango!" Link shouted as he ran over and tried to stab the hand to free her, but it was no help. The hand threw Sango to the other side of the platform. She slowly got up, woozy. "You alright?" Link asked her.

"Yeah, I'll manage." Sango replied as she rubbed her sore ribs some more. Link now saw where the main body of the monster was and attempted to try and stab at it, but he couldn't jump up high enough cut at it. After he tried to cut it one of the hands grabbed him too. Sango's eyes opened wide.

"Link! Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted, and then threw the massive boomerang at the hand holding Link. Sango winced in pain from her ribs when she heaved the Hiraikotsu, but she wasn't letting it affect her fighting. When the boomerang struck the hand, Link was released, and the hand started shaking. That gave Sango an idea as she ran over to Link and pulled him away.

"Thanks for the save." Link said as he caught his breath after almost being squeezed to death. Sango didn't answer. Instead she lined up and heaved the Hiraikotsu at the monster's other hand, stunning it good too.

"Link, get ready to run over to the monster's eye to slash it, I'm going to try and hit with my weapon." Sango said in a hardened voice. She heaved the Hiraikotsu again, striking the monster dead in the eye. It howled in pain and dropped onto the drum platform as Link ran up and slashed at it. It floated back up as it's hands recovered and resumed to pound out a rhythm. Sango repeated heaving her boomerang, stunning the hands, and then hitting the head again, and Link got another hit on the main body. One more time for the cycle however, and it was over. The monster thrashed around violently, it's hands pounding drum in a frenzy, then slowly stopped, and it dissolved away. A circle of light appeared in the center of the drum platform, and Sango and Link stepped into it.

-

Sango had thought she had seen everything when she had first seen the Temple of Time, but now she had been proven wrong when her and Link appeared in the Chamber of Sages. She got some looks from Darunia, Saria, and especially Ruto. They were now joined by a white haired, athletic looking woman who looked to be as every bit in shape and strong as Sango, her hair in a similar pony-tail, and she was wearing a light-blue combat suit similar to Sheik's.

"The boy bearing the Ocarina that Zelda protected, and the master exterminator. As I expected, you both have come." she said.

"Impa, it's good to see you again. First time we visited Kakariko Village, you were elsewhere." Link said.

"Off spying on Ganondorf's forces, and checking to really see if the Hero spoke of in the legends had truly come finally. Looks like I was right."

"Impa, what truly happened on that day, seven years ago? I arrived there at the town with the Spiritual Stones, and you and Zelda were hightailing it out of there." Link asked.

"Ganondorf made his move. That's what happened. He attacked with overwhelming forces and Hyrule Castle surrendered after only a few hours. We were caught unprepared. He attacked with the intention of taking the Ocarina of Time from Princess Zelda and the rest of the Royal Family by force since he could not trick Princess Zelda into showing it to him. I took Princess Zelda out of the Castle and we fled out of Ganondorf's reach."

"Where is this Princess Zelda now? We haven't seen her anywhere." Sango added in.

"Don't you two worry about her. She is safe. Soon the time will come for her to come out of hiding and meet you all face-to-face to explain everything. That is also the time we, the Sages, will seal up Ganondorf and return peace to this land. Link, Sango, you two and the other Allies mustnow assume the responsibility of protecting Princess Zelda when she emerges. Here's the Medallion you need Link." Impa now raised her hands up and the medallion floated down from above and Link took it.

"Link, is this woman you have with you you're new fiancée?" Ruto asked in a curious voice. All the other Sages then burst out laughing, and Link and Sango both anime dropped.

"Ruto, what made you think such a thing? Of course she's not! I think she's already got a boyfriend anyway." Link said after him and Sango got back up. At those words, Sango shot a hard look at Link as they then vanished.

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_Author's Note: See, I'm back to working on this story regularly. Next chapter won't be long in coming either._


	22. Origins of the Triforce andThe Valley

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **XXI**: _Origins of the Triforce and...The Valley_

After Link and Sango reappeared on the hexagonal platform outside the cave entrance to the Shadow Temple, Sango walked up to the ledge and sighed. It was nighttime.

"Link I don't think I should try jumping down from here, as sore as I am. It hurts to even walk." she said.

"Yeah, I agree with you. I'll go get InuYasha then to get you down. Hey, Sango, you notice something?" Link asked.

"What?"

"It's stopped raining." Link said.

"Yeah, you're right. Link, hurry InuYasha up here. A bed's the only thing I want to see right now." Sango said. Link nodded, and jumped down off the ledge and proceeded out of the graveyard. Entering back into the now quiet village, it immediately struck Link that it was not raining in the village as well as he made his way to Rhape's house. He saw who he was sent to fetch crouched up on the roof of it. "Don't you ever sleep InuYasha?" Link asked up at him.

"Not on nights like this, when some of my friends are away. Where's Sango?" InuYasha replied as he jumped down and landed in front of Link.

"Back up on the ledge at the cave entrance. She needs you to get her down off the ledge. That Shadow Temple roughed her up pretty good. She's not hurt seriously, but she's pretty bruised and battered, and doesn't want to risk hurting herself." Link said.

"Keh! What's a few bruises? She's starting to go soft." InuYasha said as he then jumped up back onto the roof and took off for the graveyard, bounding from rooftop to rooftop, as Link knocked on the door and entered the house.

InuYasha entered the graveyard and made his way to the cave entrance, finding Sango dozing while resting against the side of the cave entrance. Her eyes opened when he landed in front of her.

"Sango, you're starting to go soft, asking for me to help you now when you usually don't after most of our other fights." he said, earning a stare from her. InuYasha noticed how one of her cheeks had swollen up from her apparently getting punched pretty hard, and how one of her eyes seemed to be starting to swell shut too,

"This time was different. I'm too tired to explain it now, but I wouldn't have asked for it if I hadn't needed it." Sango said as InuYasha carefully picked her up bridal style.

"Keh. It looks like for once you have been through a pretty good scrap. Where you hurting the most?"

"My ribs. Take it easy on the landing. I can walk the rest of the way." InuYasha nodded and gently jumped off the ledge. When he landed, Sango only grunted a little in discomfort. InuYasha now gently set Sango on her feet, making sure she could stand on her own before letting go of her. They both then left the graveyard, Sango walking a little slower than she usually did, and InuYasha staying with her to steady her and possibly pick her up again if he needed to. When they approached Rhape's house, Kagome was outside waiting for them, and she ran up.

"Sango! I'm so glad you're okay!" she said. "Link told me you got hurt some in there. Oh my! Your face!"

"Link wasn't kidding too. I took some licks in that dungeon. It was rough. Right now, the only thing I want is a place to lay down and relief for my ribs." Sango replied as both girls went in the house. Rhape already had a place set up for her. InuYasha meanwhile walked over to where Link was already sprawled out on the floor.

"You gonna tell us what happened tomorrow, and what's next?" he asked him.

"Uh-huh. In the morning. I'm just as exhausted as Sango is, and just as sore, and sleep's the only thing I want right now." Link said before he dozed off and went quickly to sleep.

-

It was the next morning. While they were eating breakfast, Link started in on telling everybody how his and Sango's experience in the Shadow Temple had gone. The others, especially Miroku, had opened their eyes in shock when he got to the part where Sango had been possessed and what he'd had to do as a result.

"Sango, you still hurting?" Shippo now asked her.

"Yeah, but not as much as I was when I went to sleep last night." Sango replied while petting Kirara.

"You're not making that up about Sango getting possessed are you?" Miroku asked in an astonished voice with a slight tinge of anger after Link finished.

"No, I'm not. I actually did have to fight her and knock her out."

"Such a cruel thing to have done to one as young as you are. And Link, I feel bad for you because you then had to do that to her to save her." Rhape said as she came up and rubbed Link's shoulders to comfort him.

"What did you do to the bastard mage afterwards? Gave him a nice, painful death I hope." InuYasha asked.

"Beheaded him with the Master Sword, that's what I did. I was tempted to then cut up his body afterwards, but it dissolved before I had the chance to." Link said, his voice going cold as he said it.

"Sango, you feel well enough to travel? We can stay here another day if you're still hurting." Kagome now said.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. My ribs are still hurting." Sango replied. She still looked bruised up, but her wounds were now bandaged.

"That temple sounded even more scary then the well! I'm getting scared just thinking about it." Shippo said, shaking.

"Be glad you didn't have to go with us." Link said to him.

"Link, where we going next?" Miroku now asked.

"Our next destination is Gerudo Valley. Sheik said the last Sage would be awakened within a _'goddess of the sand'._ Gerudo Valley is where the Gerudo, Ganondorf's race, hail from. It's the desert region of Hyrule. But we won't leave for it until Sango feels she's ready." said Link.

"Hey, Link. You remember me telling you about how the Shikon no Tama was created before we went into the Shadow Temple the first time right?" Sango then spoke.

"Yes, I do. What about it?"

"You said you'd tell us all about how the Triforce came to be eventually. I think now's a perfect time for you to tell us about it." Link thought for a moment.

"Yeah, now's as good a time as any. We've got nothing to do until you're healed up, so why not. Rhape, would you wait outside until I get you, please? This is something only for their ears." Link said.

"Of course. It's a nice day out anyway, and I want to catch up on the gossip." she said as she opened the door walked outside, closing the door behind her. Link now took a deep breath to begin his long-winded story on the origins of the Triforce.

"The Triforce is composed of three parts, each one containing the essence of one of the triumvirate of goddesses who created Hyrule and the rest of our world." Link started.

"Ooh, goddesses? What are their names?" Shippo chirped in.

"The three goddesses are named Din, Nayru, and Farore. They created the Triforce after creating the world to serve as a guiding symbol of themselves for the people of our world. They departed after their labors were completed."

"What part did each of the goddesses play in making this world?" Miroku now asked. Link then took his shield off his back and pointed at the Triforce crest on it.

"Din is the goddess of Power and was the one who formed and shaped the lands. She worked the earth and shaped up the mountains, plains, valleys, plateus and the other landforms." Link now pointed to the top triangle on the Triforce crest. "Din created this part of the Triforce." Link now pointed at the lower left part of the crest. "This part was created by Nayru. Nayru is the goddess of Wisdom and she created and set in place the physical and scientific laws that govern our world, created magic, and set nature in order." Now Link pointed to the lower right part of the crest. "Farore, goddess of Courage, created the final part of the Triforce. After Din and Nayru did their parts of creating the world, Farore set about through justice and vigor to create all the forms of life."

"What about the Sacred Realm?" Kagome now asked.

"The goddesses created the Sacred Realm to hide the Triforce from evil ones. But that was it. They didn't build the Temple of Time or the magical locks it had. One of the early Hylian Kings had it built, and it's magical locks put in place as a further way to protect the Triforce."

"Link, how the hell do you know all of this? And what about the Master Sword? Who made it?" InuYasha now butted in.

"Princess Zelda was who told me all of this before I set out to gather the Spiritual Stones. As for the Master Sword," Link said as he pulled the blade and continued, "I'm guessing the same Hylian King who had the Temple of Time constructed was who had the Master Sword made. He must have had the foresight to see that in some cases, the Temple of Time would still not be enough to keep the Triforce out of the reach of evil ones. So he had the Master Sword made to ensure no evil person could enter the realm, but an instance like what has happened here with Ganondorf, nobody could have predicted." Link finished.

"That's for sure." InuYasha replied. Link now got up and motioned for Rhape to reenter.

When Rhape came back in she looked over everybody.

"When are you all planning to leave for Gerudo Valley?" she asked.

"I think we could possibly leave the next day. I'll probably be feeling good enough to travel by then." Sango replied.

"Stop by the Baazar before you leave, the owner has some desert gear you would be wise to buy before setting out." she said.

"I don't need it, I'm hanyou. Besides, we can force the Gerudo into giving us what we need." InuYasha blurted out.

"InuYasha! We are NOT going to do that." Kagome then said. Rhape now looked at InuYasha sternly.

"Young man, you sure are thick headed, I'll give you that. Actually, it would be best for you all to avoid the Gerudo all together." she said.

"Rhape's right. The Gerudo are not the kind of people we want to run into accidentally. We'll have to be stealthy and try to stay out of sight when we enter the valley. The moment they spot us, they'll imprison us until they decide how and when to execute us." Link said, rubbing his chin.

"Bring 'em on! I can handle 'em." InuYasha blurted.

"Osuwari." Kagome said, having heard enough. WHAM! Shippo started to chuckle, and InuYasha tried to reach over to grab him. "Osuwari." WHAM! "Leave Shippo alone." InuYasha grumbled expletives under his breath as he started to slowly get back up.

-

The next morning, Sango's ribs had stopped hurting enough for her to travel, so they made the decision to leave for Gerudo Valley that day. Kagome went to see the Bazaar to buy some more arrows and anything else he recommended for the desert.

"Sir, what do you recommend besides plenty of water if you're going to be traveling to the desert?" she asked the shopkeeper after entering the store. The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow.

"You traveling to Gerudo Valley?" he asked.

"Why yes. How do you know?"

"Gerudo Valley leads to the only desert and sandy part of Hyrule. If I were you I would avoid going there altogether."

"Why do you say that?" Kagome now asked, intrigued.

"Well, I'm sure that young man Link has told you a little about the Gerudo, about them being a tribe of thieves. He wasn't kidding either. They are a ruthless and brutal band of brigands. Even before Ganondorf came, most common folk avoided Gerudo Valley because it was a bad place for highway robberies and attacks. You never even got close to it without a good weapon and the skills to use it, unless you actually did have a death wish." he said.

"Me and the rest of Link's group have got no choice but to head there, however." Kagome replied. The man shook his head, and took another bundle of arrows off the wall and brought them to her.

"Well, since you insist on going, I can't stop you. Besides the arrows, for you, and the water, you all will also need these to protect from the sandstorms." the shopkeeper said as he now pulled several robes off the shelf.

"Anything else?" Kagome asked as she got out her rupees to pay for the items.

"Just some more advice if you are going there anyway. Keep on your toes at all times and watch your back when you enter the valley. The Gerudo are a stealthy bunch and like to ambush. If you aren't vigilant in keeping an eye on your surroundings, you could lose your head quite literally and not even know it until you're dead." Kagome gulped at those words.

"Uh, thanks." she said as she paid for the items and left. Everybody else had gotten their things together and were outside Rhape's house when she returned.

"What's with those robes?" Sango asked as Kagome put some of the robes in Epona's saddlebags, the remaining ones in her duffel bag, then placing it on the back of her bike.

"The shop owner said we'll need them in the desert for protection from sandstorms. Are we ready to leave?" she replied.

"Sure looks like it." InuYasha said.

"Let's be off then." Link said, and they made their way out of Kakariko Village.

-

"Keep your wits about you. We're entering dangerous territory." Link said as the group approached the entrance to Gerudo Valley. They had been traveling for the whole day, and it was now starting to approach dusk. Kagome could now see why this area was considered a highwayman's heaven. The only road into the valley was a narrow, winding path through a canyon with high cliffs on either side and each cliff having bunches of outcroppings for bandits to hide behind. The approaching red sky made things all the more intimidating looking.

"Link how far are we going to go in here before we stop for the night?" Sango asked.

"We need to negotiate this canyon before sunset, there's a wide open area where it opens out that we can make camp in." He said as they cautiously entered the canyon. Everybody was looking around constantly, watching out for signs of bandits or any Gerudo.

"Did you ever visit this place during your quest for the Spiritual Stones?" Miroku asked.

"Once, just out of curiosity. My quest for the stones didn't bring me here. I didn't really get that far before I had to leave." Link answered. InuYasha turned and looked at him.

"You were willing to risk getting yourself killed like that? Sounds pretty stupid to me." he said. Link sighed.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, it probably wasn't the smartest idea. But I had heard about Ganondorf being the leader of the Gerudo, and I thought that maybe paying a visit to the Gerudo would be a good way to learn more about him." he said. Shippo now hopped from Kagome's shoulder up onto Link's shoulder.

"Link, how far did you get into here before you had to leave?" he asked. Link was about to answer when they all rounded another turn in the narrow canyon and the canyon opened up. Link stopped Epona, confused. "That's how far I got." Link said pointing.

Up ahead was a huge chasm and a bridge to cross it, but the bridge was damaged and broken. That's what had confused him. On the other side was the mini-valley that Link was referring to. There was a tent set up near the bridge on the other side. They all approached the edge of the chasm.

"What happened to the bridge?" Shippo asked. Link looked closely at their surroundings.

"I think the Gerudo were the ones who did this. Most, if not all of them, are probably working for Ganondorf and they may have done this under his orders when the other Temples started being purified." Link finally said.

"Then why hasn't Ganondorf sent his goons after us? In our world, a lot of the times Naraku liked to bring the fight to us in some form or another. Is he that much of a coward?" InuYasha asked.

"That's something I've been wondering myself InuYasha, why he hasn't tried to stop us from awakening the Sages." Link said, rubbing his chin. InuYasha looked more closely at the width of the chasm.

"Hmph. This ain't a problem. I can easily jump this." InuYasha said as he walked over to Kagome. "Here, get on my back." She did, and InuYasha picked the bike up and jumped across.

"Sango, how much weight can Kirara carry? I'm not going to try jumping this on Epona. It's too risky. I'm wanting to instead put Epona's saddlebags on Kirara and get them across that way." Link asked.

"She can probably handle it." Sango replied. Link then got off of Epona and Sango and Miroku dismounted and helped Link remove and carry the saddle bags with Link's gear to Kirara, laying them across the fire neko's back. Kirara didn't seem fazed by it. Sango and Miroku then got back on Kirara and she grunted a little. Sango then tried to see if Kirara would try to fly, and she did. Shippo hopped from Link's shoulder and up onto Kirara too, and they flew across, Miroku and Shippo dismounting before Sango came back to get Link. Dusk was settling in when they all, minus Epona, were across the chasm. They walked up to the tent, and a carpenter that Link recognized from Kakariko Village seven years ago walked out.

"Whoa, I didn't expect to have visitors here. How did you get across the broken bridge?" he asked.

"We had our own ways, but I can't get my horse across." Link said.

"Hmm. I'm a master carpenter and woodworker. I could easily fix that bridge, but the problem is all my workers ran off. They said they thought it was too boring being craftsmen, so they ran away to the Gerudo Fortress to become thieves." he said.

"Keh. Too bad for them." InuYasha commented. The carpenter looked at each of them.

"I'm not trying to be nosy, but are you all going to the Gerudo Fortress too?" he asked.

"No, we're trying to get to the desert. We'd like to avoid contact with the Gerudo if possible." Miroku said. The carpenter shook his head.

"Well, sorry to say it, but you can't get to the desert without passing right by the Gerudo Fortress. There's only one entrance to the desert, and the Gerudo usually keep that entrance barred and gated. They'll only open that gate for people they like." he said.

"How do you know all of this?" Sango asked.

"Because my workers and I were just over there a few days ago on a job for them. It was one of the scariest jobs I'd been on though. Those thieves are constantly bugging you and looking over your shoulder, and some of them tried to steal some of my tools. My workers thought otherwise though, and we had just started to leave when we found the bridge like this. That's when my workers jumped ship and abandoned me to go back to the Fortress, so now I'm stuck. I'd ask you to take me back across the chasm, but I'd rather fix the bridge first." The carpenter's face then lit up. "I know! I'll tell you what. In exchange for letting you all share my large tent with me, how about you all tomorrow head to the Fortress and see if you can get my workers to return?"

"Hell no! What's helping them gonna do for us?" InuYasha said.

"Osuwari." Kagome said simply. WHAM!

"We'll gladly accept your offer." Miroku said. "I've been wondering what these Gerudo are actually like in person." The carpenter then looked at him sternly.

"I hope you aren't planning to try and pull a fast one them. They're all up to no good. Knowing their distrust of men, I've got the feeling something's happened to my workers. Come on in, supper's almost ready." the carpenter said. They all followed him into the tent.

-

A lone Gerudo scout had been there when the group of travelers entered the canyon, waiting to see how the group would handle the broken bridge. She had been astonished to see how the group managed to cross it, and especially astonished at the red-robed, white-haired one's ability to jump on his own such a chasm. She had heard of what this group had managed to accomplish, and now her fears had been confirmed.

After seeing them cross the bridge she had gone off and informed her superiors, and now she was back with a crack squad of them waiting for the night to come. It finally arrived and they approached the tent, each one of them wearing clothes to mask their scents from the dog-eared one. They crept up to the tent in silence, each one of them brandishing a club.

Some scuffling outside woke InuYasha up. He could've swore he heard something.

"Kagome, is that you?" he asked groggily. He got up sleepily to go and check to see if she had gone outside. As soon as he was outside, everything went black as he felt something hard come down on his head.

Inside the tent, Kagome had opened her eyes upon hearing InuYasha start to leave.

_'InuYasha, where are you going?'_ she wondered. She saw him go out, but he didn't come back in after a few minutes. Shippo stirred too.

"Kagome, what is it?" he asked quietly.

"Something's going on, Shippo. Wake the others." Kagome said. Shippo hopped over to Sango and roused her and then Miroku and Link. Kagome meanwhile, got up and headed for the door of the tent. As soon as Kagome left the tent, she saw InuYasha sprawled out on the ground a few yards away, unconscious. "InuYasha!" she said and started to run up to him, but she didn't get there. A hand came around her and clasped over her mouth, preventing her from screaming. Kagome now felt the side of her head explode with pain as a blunt object met the side of her head, and then blackness.

Sango had seen it happen from the door of the tent and tried to help, but another grabbed her from behind and knocked her out. In the same instance, Gerudo burst through the back walls of the tent and knocked out Miroku, Link, Shippo, and the head carpenter.

-

An intense, throbbing headache greeted Link as he came to.

"Oww." He groaned.

"So, you've awakened." Link heard a female voice say. Link looked over to see a Gerudo looking in on him, brandishing a razor sharp scimitar. He was inside a dusty cell, bars keeping him inside. The Gerudo continued. "I have to admit, you don't look all that dangerous. But King Ganondorf says otherwise, and he was right, especially after seeing that Master Sword of yours."

At those words, Link felt his back and found his shield and the Master Sword were gone.

"What have you done to the others?" Link asked.

"Oh, the Allies? They are in good hands. You all are going to be treated well. Ganondorf himself is on his way to get a good look at you all before we torture you to death." the Gerudo said with a seductive smile.

In another room, InuYasha was just starting to come to. His head didn't hurt that bad, but he saw a tan-skinned, red haired woman looking at him.

"Those white, fluffy ears of yours are cute. I'm going to enjoy slowly cutting them off of your head." she said.

"What the hell did you say?" InuYasha said as he ran up to the bars, grabbed them, and tried to bend them, without success.

"You needn't have bothered with that. We set this particular cell up specifically for you." the Gerudo said.

"What the hell have you done to Kagome and the others?" InuYasha asked.

"The strange girl and the so-called taijiya are being held together. We had to separate you all to make you less dangerous." InuYasha's blood started to boil in rage. He reached down to draw Tetsusaiga, but his hands found nothing.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"We've confiscated that sword of yours. It's too dangerous to be in the hands one such as you. I'm going to have fun torturing you to death later." the Gerudo said, then laughing evilly. InuYasha growled.

Sango, and Kagome both woke up together in a cell similar to Link and InuYasha's.

"Ohh, my head." Kagome said as she looked over at Sango who was just sitting up.

"You know young one, you shouldn't be wondering around with such a group as your friends. It's a wonder you haven't died yet." Kagome heard the sinister voice of another Gerudo. Sango got up and looking around noticed her taijiya equipment was missing.

"Where's my stuff?" she asked the Gerudo through the bars sternly.

"Elsewhere. You will not be needing it anymore, as you and all your troublesome friends will be dead in a couple of days." the Gerudo replied.

"Hey! We haven't done anything to any of you yet." Kagome said.

"You are too naive for your own good, strange one. Of course you all have. You've been a huge thorn in the great Ganondorf's side for too long now, and have become too powerful. Be thankful we haven't killed you all yet however."

"Hey, where's Shippo?" Kagome now asked.

"The tailed fox? He's behind me." The Gerudo said, moving to the side and revealing behind her a cage that Shippo was inside, growling.

"You let me out of here ya big, bad, meanie, and gimme my stuff back!" He shouted. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief.

Miroku meanwhile, regained consciousness in a peculiar position. He was hanging by his wrists a good foot or so off the floor, chained to a wall. He did not have his robes on, and only a loincloth was preserving his decency. He looked up and saw a very beautiful woman.

"What the...where am I? And what have you done with my clothes?" He asked.

"You said you wanted to have some fun with us, so we're going to grant you your wish, but it's not going to be your kind of fun. It's going to be _our_ kind." A sick feeling came to Miroku's mind at what she was talking about considering how he was tied up. The Gerudo continued. "But not now, as Ganondorf will be here shortly to get a good look at you before we start."

_Author's Notes: Decided to switchto Kagome using 'Osuwari' instead of 'Sit'. I like osuwari better._


	23. Torture

The Green-clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **XXII**: _Torture and Escape_

"How much difficulty was there in capturing them?" Ganondorf, wearing his trademark black armor, asked as a very attractive Gerudo led him to the cell block where Link and his new friends were being kept.

"Surprisingly little. We managed to catch them with their guard down. That carpenter and his bunch showing up was a lucky coincidence that couldn't have come at a better time. If it hadn't been for them sleeping in the craftman's tent, it would have been much more difficult." she said.

"Good, good. You did put them in separate cells and space them apart from each other right?" Ganondorf asked.

"Yes we did your highness. We even put special bars on the dog-eared one's cell. He's the most dangerous of all of them."

"Hmm. That should be interesting then." They entered the room where Link's cell was. The guard in there snapped to attention as Ganondorf and the Gerudo officer entered. Link put on an emotionless face at Ganondorf's entrance that would have made Sesshomaru proud. "Well, well. The boy I see has finally been caught. You and your friends have caused quite a lot of trouble for me." Ganondorf said as he walked up to the bars. Link stayed at the back of the cell, staring at Ganondorf stoically.

"I can tell that you've done a fine job of running Hyrule into the ground for these past seven years. How proud of yourself are you?" Link asked in a voice absent of emotion, that earned a smirk from Ganondorf.

"How complimentary of you, great Hero. I see that using you like I did those years ago didn't weaken you like I thought it would." he said.

"Get to the point Ganondorf. What do you want from me? Locking me and everybody else up like you have didn't surprise me. What did is the fact you waited until now, with one Sage left to be awakened, to try and stop us. That's what I don't understand."

"Come, come now boy. Even after all these years I've still been searching for something, or someone rather. Princess Zelda. Tell me where she is and I may just let you and your friends go." Link actually lost his composure and laughed at that.

"Her? You're still after her? You amuse me, Ganondorf. What could you possibly want with her? The Ocarina of Time? Are you too stupid to remember that she managed throw it to me? You've got it now anyway since your Gerudo whores liberated me of all my equipment." Link said, chuckling. The two Gerudo women in the room then ran up to the cell bars in a rage and started to unlock the cell door to get in, but Ganondorf stopped them.

"Not until I'm finished talking and have left. He's trying to get inside your head." Ganondorf said sternly, then chuckled. "Once again boy, you show me why I actually like you to a degree. But back to business. Princess Zelda can still put together and organize a revolution against me. You know that. I know there's an easier way to keep that from happening by slaughtering the Hylians and all the other races, but that would leave nobody around to oppress and I'd get bored. So I take away what little hope they still have instead." Link regained his composure and his stoic facade returned. He then spoke.

"Well, Ganondorf, to tell you the truth, I have no idea where Princess Zelda is. If your reason for letting us run around was for the chance that maybe we'd have met up with her by now and you could pull that info from us, it hasn't worked. I've not seen her, and none of the others have seen her. She's been keeping out of sight from even us. You can go and try to get the same info from the others, but they're all going to tell you the same thing: 'I don't know.'" Link said. Ganondorf walked right up to the bars and looked steely hard into Link's eyes, and Ganondorf could see no fear at all in them, and he knew he had lost this staring contest.

"Bah!" Ganondorf said as he stepped away from the bars and asked the Gerudo officer to lead him to InuYasha's cell. Link stared hard at him as he left the room. The Gerudo officer led Ganondorf down a hall some past other empty cells, and into another room where InuYasha was being held. InuYasha grinned a smirky grin as Ganondorf entered.

"So I finally get to meet the bastard Ganondorf himself. Your pretty damn cocky, waiting until now to do anything about us. Where I come from, my enemy would have tried to do me in ASAP when I started screwing up his plans." InuYasha said, never losing his smirky grin. Ganondorf casually strolled up to the bars and gave InuYasha the once-over. "Well, dammit are you going to say something or just stare at me?" InuYasha asked, annoyed. He walked right up to the bars in his cell, growling. Ganondorf reared back with his fist and delivered a right hand to InuYasha's cheek that landed with the force of a sledgehammer and sent InuYasha flipping backwards, and he slammed back-first into the back wall of the cell, then fell face first to the floor. He growled more as he got shakily back to his feet.

"Maybe that will teach you some respect, child! You're not much without your sword are you?" Ganondorf said.

"Are you daring me to bust these bars and show you what I can do without it?" InuYasha said. When Ganondorf didn't answer, InuYasha took it as a yes. "_Sankon-tessou!_" InuYasha yelled as he tried to break the bars, but they didn't budge. The only thing they all heard was a horrible SCREECH as InuYasha's claws raked across the bars. Ganondorf's and the two Gerudo's arms flew up to their ears to protect them, and after it subsided, Ganondorf quickly charged up an energy ball and sent it through the bars. It caught InuYasha right in the chest and he fell to the cell floor, out cold.

"Pathetic. This damn kid's annoying, but I like his attitude. Don't kill him during the torture, let him live. I wish to fight him and kill him myself, with him being able to use his sword. I really want to see what he's capable of. Now, lead to the cell where the two girls are." Ganondorf said as him and the officer continued on.

Sango and Kagome had meanwhile heard InuYasha's shout of _sankon-tessou_.

"Sango, was that InuYasha?" Kagome asked.

"Sounded like it. He must have been trying to escape." Sango replied. Her and Kagome then heard the sound of an energy shot being released, and the sound of InuYasha grunting and then a thud.

"Oh no! InuYasha!" Kagome said, concerned.

"You needn't worry about him. I didn't kill him." Ganondorf said as he entered the room.

"What did you do to him?" Kagome asked.

"He was being a disrespectful whelp, so I had to put him in his place by giving him a headache. He'll be out for sometime."

"If you've come to get us to talk, it ain't happening." Sango said.

"Good guess, but that's not why I'm here. I've merely come to see for myself who the supposed Hero and Allies were, before you all are tortured to death." Ganondorf said.

"Nobody's gonna be tortured! We're gonna bust outta here!" Shippo shouted. Ganondorf looked at him in the hanging cage.

"Another mere annoying child, or runt more like it, who can't accept the facts." Ganondorf said coldly. He then powered up another small, weak energy ball and flung it into the cage. Shippo was struck hard by it and he collapsed.

"ow, ow, waahh." Shippo whimpered in pain.

"Shippo!" Kagome shouted.

"That'll teach ya, ya little runt." Ganondorf looked back at Sango and Kagome, when the head Gerudo and guard that were with him walked up and whispered in his ears for a few moments, pointing at Sango. Ganondorf nodded. "Okay, you can do that. I have no problem with it, as long as she's not breathing by the end of it. Just make sure of that."

"What are you talking about that concerns me!" Sango asked forcefully as she ran up to the bars and grabbed them.

"Change of plans for you. We had actually been wanting to do it ever since we first captured you all, but we had to get King Ganondorf's approval for it, and he just signed off on it." The Gerudo officer said who was acting as Ganondorf's guide. The guard in the room was now smiling real big too.

"Doing what to me?" Sango again asked forcefully.

"You'll find out tomorrow. All I'll say is that you better be feeling real good and ready for combat." the guard said.

"Take me to see the monk. I'm interested in knowing what you're plans are for him." Ganondorf said.

"With pleasure." The officer said, leading him out.

"Whatever they're planning, I don't like the sound of it one bit." Sango said.

"Sango, you better go ahead and start resting now, since you're still a little sore from the Shadow Temple. Shippo, you alright?" Kagome asked. The little kit slowly stood back up in his cage.

"I feel I've just been stomped on hard by somebody, but I think I'll manage. Nothing feels broken." he said weakly, panting. Kagome wanted desperately to be able to hold him and comfort him, but she knew their guard could care less about either letting her out for that or bringing Shippo to her. The guard was sitting in the corner reading scrolls, looking up every now and then.

-

Raw spots were already starting to form on Miroku's wrists where he was still chained up. He was trying to meditate when he heard footsteps. He opened his eyes and saw a large man in black armor with red hair and brown skin walk in. Flanking him a was normal, female Gerudo.

"Ganondorf, I presume?" Miroku asked.

"Indeed I am. Shawnatoree here has just told me what her and her subordinates plan to do to you. I don't blame them after their spies heard various comments about you wanting to try and take advantage of them." Ganondorf said as he walked up to Miroku.

"I assume you had your reasons for delaying in capturing us, and what I'm going to ask you I probably know the answer anyway, but I still wish to ask it, if you'll let me." Miroku said.

"I think I can grant you that. This will be the only time I see you and get to talk with you before you die tomorrow, so why not. What is it that you wish to ask the great King Ganondorf?" Ganondorf said.

"All I ask for is your reasons why? Why did you do it all those seven years ago? Seek out the Spiritual Stones, the Ocarina of Time, and ultimately the Triforce? What's the deeper, inner need you have that you believe only possessing the Triforce and using it to oppress the innocent and the weak will satisfy? Or is it just the shallow, lusting for power and the want to try and control everything that you are trying to satisfy?" Miroku asked. That stopped Ganondorf for a moment.

"You are indeed intelligent monk, even if you do have lecherous ways. Okay, I'll tell you. That boy Link won't ask that question surprisingly, but you have. The reason why I did it all is like you said. The ability to just be able to control everything, to make everything and everyone bend to your will with it. The chance to make things bow down and worship you. What better feeling can there be than that?" Ganondorf asked.

"The feeling of complete, and _real,_ _inner,_ _spiritual,_ peace. Ganondorf, the kind of peace you seek can't be found in material things. It cannot be found in controlling others. Don't you see that? The only reason why you continue to do the things you do is because getting the Triforce wasn't enough. It didn't give you that inner, spiritual peace you were trying to find, so you think that by getting and controlling more, you'll eventually find it. But it doesn't work that way. You're still not going to find it staying on your current path. I meanwhile, have already found it. Your subordinates can do whatever they want with me tomorrow in bringing about my death, but I won't die in want or need of anything. Sure it may be painful physically, but my spirit and soul won't be in agony at all. They'll instead be wishing when you start lashing me with the whip, or whatever you do, that it all ends as quickly as possible." Miroku said. Ganondorf and the other Gerudos had started tapping their feet when Miroku had started that short speech.

"Are you finished, you so called wiseman?" Ganondorf asked annoyingly. Miroku sighed.

"I might as well be then, since my words were in complete vain, and all I did was waste my breath." Miroku replied.

"Indeed you did. Your kind are always confusing and strange to listen to. All that babbling nonsense. I'm sure your guards can't wait to kill you tomorrow, but after saying that, they may just stretch it out, just so they can try and break that spirit of yours." Ganondorf said, then turned to Shawnatoree, the Gerudo officer who had been leading him around. "I'm finished seeing the prisoners. You can begin the torture tomorrow. Send word of their deaths when it's finished." Ganondorf said as him and Shawnatoree walked out of the room.

_'Ganondorf, you're the one who's the utter fool. Not I.'_ Miroku thought as he watched them leave.

-

Loud clanging of a sword against the bars of his cell was Link's wake up call the next morning. A Gerudo guard tossed a leather wineskin full of water and disk of bread into the cell as Link started to get up.

"Hurry up and eat your last meal before I come in there and shove it down your throat. Today's the day we put you to death slowly for interfering in King Ganondorf's business." the guard said. Link put on a stoic face again as he ate the bread and drank the water. When he was finished, the guard whistled and another one came, opened the door and entered the cell. She put shackles on Link's hands behind his back, and they both led him out. As they went out, two more guards with a thrashing InuYasha joined them.

"InuYasha? What'd they do to you?" Link asked as InuYasha walked up beside him.

"They put some kind of damn shackles on my ankles and wrists that must be made outta the same stuff as my cell bars. I can't break them!" InuYasha said as he continued to grunt as he tried to break the shackles.

"Dog boy, you might as well give up. You'll only tire yourself out and be too tired to howl in pain while we slowly kill you." one of his guards said. InuYasha just growled at her. Entering another room, they saw guards with a shackled up Kagome waiting on them. Another guard had put a leash around Shippo's neck.

"InuYasha! You're okay!" Kagome said.

"Keh! Of course I'm okay! They do anything to you?" InuYasha asked, as they both looked in Kagome's cell and saw a guard with a sword pointed at Sango to keep her from trying anything.

"No, they haven't done anything other then put these tight shackles on me." Kagome said.

"Take this thing off of me!" Shippo shouted as he pulled on the leash's chain.

"Shut up runt!" The guard holding the leash's chain said, and yanked on the chain.

"AACK!" Shippo choked out as he was yanked off his feet by the leash on his neck.

"Shippo!" Kagome cried. As the guards led her, Link, InuYasha, and Shippo out of the room, another guard came in with Sango's taijiya combat clothes, but not her weapons. The guard tossed Sango her clothes.

"Put 'em on, then follow me." she said.

"This have to do with what you're going to do to me?" Sango asked with an edge in her voice as she started putting on her taijiya combat suit.

"It has everything to do with it." The guard replied.

Meanwhile, in Miroku's chamber, he saw the door to his room open and several Gerudos came in with what he saw were branding irons, and a clay pot filled with fire coals, and a look of horror crossed his face.

-

Link, InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo's guards led them down a few corridors to a room, and Kagome's face paled when they entered. There were numerous devices of torture in the room. There were gibbets, iron maiden encasements, stretching racks, drawing and quartering racks, crushing tables, and also a pendulum table with a razor sharp pendulum above it in a corner. Various swords, some jagged, some smooth, along with various jagged and smooth impaling stakes were stacked neatly on a shelf too. The guards led her and Shippo over to a pair of open wooden stocks, one adult sized, the other child size. Kagome was put in the set of adult stocks, while Shippo was put in the child sized one. InuYasha and Link meanwhile, were pushed to the center of the room where two sets of shackles hung from the ceiling. Link's arms were raised up, and the Gerudos then lifted him up by his arms and locked the shackles around his wrists. This they did to InuYasha as well. InuYasha looked over at Kagome and Shippo in the stocks, and growled in a fierce, feral manner at the Gerudos.

"What the hell are you planning on doing to them?" InuYasha asked as he growled.

"First, they're going to watch us kick and punch you and Link to death. Then, they'll be beheaded." one said. Kagome and Shippo's eyes opened wide in shock.

_'They're really...going to kill me.'_ Kagome thought, a primal feeling of dread and fear rising in her, that InuYasha smelled.

"How are we going to get outta this?" Shippo asked in a scared voice.

"Leave Kagome and Shippo outta this. Kagome's a terrible archer and has no fighting skills, and Shippo's done absolutely _nothing_ to deserve this." Link said. Another Gerudo smirked at him.

"No can do. Personal order from Ganondorf himself: kill every one of them, no matter how little or any they've contributed to helping you out, Hero of Time." she said. Link gritted his teeth in intense anger. Fortunately for him, that one Gerudo was standing a bit too close. Link took the opportunity to quickly raise his leg and kick her as hard as he could in the stomach. As soon as she was sent staggering backwards however, another one ran up and delivered a right handed, powerful punch that landed like a bomb on Link's jaw and snapped Link's head back. POW! Link was left dazed, as other Gerudo walked up and shackled up Link's legs to keep him from doing that again. The one he had kicked however, walked back up. "Nice kick. Too bad it will be your last." With that, she then walked over and kicked Link, and then InuYasha, right between the legs where their genitals were. Both of them howled in pain at that, and the rest of the Gerudos proceeded to join in, punching and kicking them both in the face, stomach, and ribs hard over and over again.

"Oh InuYasha..." Kagome said as her eyes welled up with tears at seeing what was happening.

-

As Sango put on her taijiya combat suit, she noticed all her hidden blades and chain was missing from the suit.

"I see you went the extra mile to take ALL my weapons from me." she said in a stoic voice.

"You will not be needing them." one of her guards replied.

"Dropping me in a pit with some huge creature to feed him?" Sango now asked bitterly.

"You are going to be put in a pit, but not with a huge monster. You'll see." another guard replied as she then entered the cell and placed shackles on Sango's wrists and ankles. "These are only temporary mind you." Sango didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign. The guards led her out of the cell and down some halls. She could hear noises of a crowd of some kind emanating from the halls ahead, and it steadily got louder the further they went. Soon, they entered a huge chamber that Sango saw was an arena of some kind, with a large sand pit in the middle of it.

In the middle of the pit stood the same Gerudo who had been giving Ganondorf a tour of their cells yesterday, however she was not wearing the loose fitting, robe-like clothes she wore yesterday. Today she was wearing a red colored, two-piece combat suit. The upper piece covering her chest and upper back only, the lower piece her waist and thighs. The combat suit had a skin-tight fit to it, like Sango's own taijiya suit. Her red hair was in same ponytail type do that Sango's was in.

Around the pit were crude bleachers in which a large crowd of other Gerudo were, all of them jeering and booing at Sango. The guards led Sango down into the pit, and stopped her several yards from the combat-suited Gerudo whom Sango presumed to be her opponent, if this was what she thought it was.

"Remove her shackles, and leave." her presumed opponent said. The guards did so, removing the shackles from Sango's wrists and ankles, then exiting the pit. The crowd now silenced itself.

"What's the purpose in bringing me out here for a fight like this?" Sango asked the Gerudo.

"Our hidden spies in the Shadow Temple were most impressed with what you managed to do in there. Especially the mage who possessed you before the Hero of Time did him in. Before you die, we want to see how well you match up against the best female Gerudo around, I, Shawnatoree. This will be a fair fight. No weapons, and no outside interference. Just hands, feet, and pure hand-to-hand skill. We battle until only one is left standing." Shawnatoree said.

"What's in it for me? Even if I win, I'm still going to die, so what's the point in me even fighting back or even defending myself when we start?" Sango asked, again stoic, but still getting herself in a defensive stance.

"The knowledge that you at least went out in a blaze of glory!" Shawnatoree shouted with a smile as she charged at Sango. She made to try and deliver a roundhouse kick to Sango's head, but Sango was ready and dodged it, in the same motion delivering a quick kick to Shawnatoree's stomach. Shawnatoree "whoofed" when the punch connected, but immediately recovered and delivered a hard jab to Sango's cheek that landed, Sango grunting loudly from it. Both female warriors staggered back, and started to circle each other, their eyes studying each other and trying to anticipate the other's next move, the crowd roaring the whole time. The fight was now on.

-

Miroku was trying hard to be calm as he saw the Gerudo torture party set down the pot of fire coals and started sticking the various irons they'd brought with them in it.

"Just...what are you planning on doing? Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" Miroku asked, now gasping in anticipation of what was about to happen.

"You got that right, you lecherous monk. You're going to get to feel pain like you've never felt before. We find your lecherous ways to be very offending." One of them said. She then reached over and pulled one of the irons out of the coal pot and walked over. "Now, SCREAM FOR ME!" she shouted as she then touched the hot iron across Miroku's chest.

"AAAAHHHH!" Miroku howled out and the Gerudo quickly pulled the iron away, leaving a red streak on Miroku's chest where it had been.

"Who's next?" she then asked as she walked away from him. Another one pulled out an iron, walked up, and repeated the same action, earning another scream from Miroku, and leaving another red streak.

_'Oh sweet Buddha, they just had to use one of the painful means didn't they?'_ Miroku lamented in his mind. After another Gerudo used her own iron on him, Miroku took the brief respite from the pain to say something.

"You ladies all know that if you keep doing this the way you're doing it, I won't die." Miroku said, his voice now starting to show signs of going hoarse from all the painful screaming he was doing.

"Yes we know. This is not how we plan to kill you. You'll be killed later. This is simply a fun session." Another Gerudo said before touching Miroku again with another iron. The scream of agony and pain echoed throughout the nearby halls.

-

Sango spat blood from her mouth again after taking another hard kick. Blood also oozed down the side of her face from her temple, the blood mixing with the sweat that also drenched her face. Her opposite cheek was starting to swell up too. She approached Shawnatoree again and delivered a jab to the open cut on Shawnatoree's temple, the sweat spray spattering off of Shawnatoree's face as her head was snapped around. Sango immediately followed it up with a series of left handed punches to Shawnatoree's side, continuing pummel away at the Gerudo's ribs and body.

"Aaaaggghh!" Shawnatoree grunted as she backed away again, favoring that same side again. She'd again failed to protect that area, as Sango had been working on busting her up there so far throughout the bout. She approached as Sango again kept ready. She started to motion to throw a punch to Sango's eyes, but then delivered a side kick to Sango's body when Sango started to move to block it. Sango was stunned by a moment, and Shawnatoree took the opportunity deliver more kicks to the same area. Coincidentally, she was kicking the same area of Sango's ribs that Link had pounded on too that one time in the Shadow Temple. Sango gritted her teeth as the pain exploded from that area again and again, and she finally managed to try and get away. Ignoring the flaring pain now from her ribs, Sango came back immediately with a swift roundhouse kick to the side of Shawnatoree's head that left her staggering and dazed. Sango followed it by coming in close and slamming her knee hard into Shawnatoree's side again, and she did it a few more times.

_'I've got to end this soon somehow. I think I can beat her, but I'm not sure if I can take much more punishment and still have enough to try and escape! UNNHH!'_ Sango thought, then grunted as Shawnatoree landed a hard left right between her eyes, snapping her head back again hard.

-

Link was now having trouble seeing. His right eye was swollen shut, his left was now closing, and blood dribbled from his mouth. He estimated that he had two broke ribs, maybe two more bruised, a contusion, and probably a concussion now. CRACK! Another Gerudo's foot found it's mark on the side of his head.

"UUNNHH!" He grunted.

Beside him, InuYasha took another knee to the ribs, grunting too. He had no broke bones yet, but his face was pretty bloody now, and an eye was swelling shut. InuYasha was being able to hear Kagome's sobs and smell her tears. He felt another Gerudo's heel slam into his nose, sending blood flying, then he felt it.

Pulse

_'Oh no! Not now! Please not now!'_ InuYasha's heart screamed. A fist landed hard to the underside of his chin, popping his head back.

Pulse

_'Crap of all the times! Why...**now?**'_ Another punch, this time his side, that landed with a loud THUD and actually lifted him up briefly.

_Pulse_

_'**Kill.**'_ A kick to the small of the hanyou's back.

_PULSE_

**_'Kill...need to kill.'_** By now InuYasha had stopped grunting in pain. His head had dropped a little to where the Gerudo couldn't see his eyes. Kagome, meanwhile, suddenly started to feel InuYasha's youkai aura flare, and she began to panic.

"Oh no." Kagome then said.

"What is it Kagome?" Shippo said.

"You feel it Shippo? InuYasha's aura is starting to flare! I think his youkai blood's starting to kick in!" Kagome said over to him. Shippo's eyes opened wide. He then concentrated a moment.

"You're right! InuYasha's transforming!" he said. Meanwhile, the Gerudo were getting confused at InuYasha's sudden lack of grunts or shouts of pain to their blows. They had noticed this and stopped beating on Link momentarily.

"What the hell has happened to the dog-boy?" One guard said as she kicked InuYasha in the kidneys. "He's not grunting in pain or anything." she finished.

"Let me look at his eyes. We may have knocked him out." Another Gerudo said as she walked up to InuYasha. She lifted his chin so they could see his face. His eyes were closed. Kagome now gasped in horror at seeing the telltale sign of the blue streaks on his cheeks.

"Huh. We did knock him out. But look at these streak-" she was cut off in mid-sentence as InuYasha's eyes flew open, their color now blood-shade of crimson with the purple pupils. The now berserker InuYasha bared his now extended fangs at them, and started to growl like the angry dog he was now. The surprised Gerudo started to back up. Link heard and weakly looked over and his non-swollen eye opened in shock.

"What the hell's going on now?" One of the Gerudo guards asked.

**_"Your deaths!"_** InuYasha seethed in his deep full-youkai voice. He then yanked hard with his arms and broke the shackles suspending him. As he dropped to the floor, he kicked his legs, shattering the shackles that restrained his legs. He then leapt at the guards and mercilessly started to tear they're throats out and tear each Gerudo limb from limb in a bloody, gory display. Link was horrified at the sight, while Kagome and Shippo both had looks of fear on their faces.

"Kagome! What the hell's happened to him?" Link asked painfully over at her.

"His youkai blood's taken control of him, he's gone berserk Link!" Shippo replied.

"How do we stop him?" Link asked.

"He needs his sword, the Tetsusaiga!" Kagome replied back, then glanced around and added, "But it's not in here!" At this time, InuYasha finished with the guards then walked up to Link, his claws and hands covered in blood from the guards.

"InuYasha! It's me, Link! I'm not an enemy!" Link desperately shouted at him. InuYasha just stared at him for a moment, and Link closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting for his death.

"Please InuYasha! Don't!" Kagome shouted. InuYasha then did something none of them were expecting. He slashed at the shackles suspending Link. After Link fell to the floor, and was on his back, InuYasha slashed at the chain for his leg shackles, breaking it. He then walked up to Link's face, breathing deeply.

"Free them, then flee! I have no idea how long I can keep this control up!" InuYasha growled, his feral, full-youkai voice booming. He then started for the exit of the torture room. "Tetsusaiga...Tetsusaiga. Must...find...Tetsusaiga!" He growled as he exited the room.

Inside InuYasha's mind, a titanic fight was taking place. A fight between a human version of him, and a non-hanyou, purely full youkai version. Both of them were struggling for dominance and arguing at each other.

_'Come on! Let's go back and finish the damn job you weakling! There's still the blood of those two mortals and the kitsune to taste! Then you can find the rest of the Gerudo women in the place drink their blood too!'_ InuYasha heard the youkai version of him say in his mind as they grappled.

_'Never! Kagome's the first person to accept both of us! Kikyo wanted you gone from this body! Remember? Kagome's willing to let you stay! On top of that, she's not only going to be my wife, but also your mate! You'd kill your own future mate? Neither one of us will find another one like her!'_ The human version of him shouted back.

InuYasha's vision meanwhile was completely red, but there was one thing that that was keeping him in just enough control to keep from going on a mindless rampage.

Tetsusaiga.

Even though he didn't have it with him, he could hear it, feel it. Feel the Fang calling out to him from somewhere in the fortress. The sword was pulsing, acting like a sonar beacon for him. He was walking down corridors when he heard anguished shouts that told him it was Miroku. The Tetsusaiga's pulses were also originating in that direction. Still breathing heavily, growling, and walking slowly, he was focusing on just putting one foot in front of the other. InuYasha made his way to the room where Miroku was being tortured. As he rounded a corner he saw a Gerudo guard touch another branding iron to Miroku's now marred up chest while another group of guards watched, leading to another scream from Miroku.

"InuYasha." Miroku said hoarsely and weakly at seeing him after the iron was pulled away. The eyes of his torturers opened wide and turned around.

"It's the dog-boy! He's escaped! Get him!" One shouted. Miroku was now forced to close his eyes and turn his head as InuYasha gruesomely laid waste to them as well. When the death screams of the guards subsided, Miroku opened his eyes and saw InuYasha walking towards him, growling, and he sighed.

"So this is the end for me. Tortured, then saved only to then be killed by the one who saved me." he said, closing eyes to wait for InuYasha to finish him off. Instead, InuYasha only continued to growl and breathe heavily for several moments. Then, in a flash, Miroku's shackles and chains were slashed apart and he was sitting on the floor. InuYasha then turned and slowly, with great effort walked back out into the corridor, still growling.

Once out of the room, InuYasha continued toward where the pulse of the Fang was leading him. Two things had drawn him into the room where Miroku was. First it was sounds of torture. His youkai half had cried out for more blood, and slaughtering all the Gerudo who were torturing Miroku had fed that bloodlust a little. After that, InuYasha had had to use all of his mental willpower to restrain his claws to only freeing Miroku, and it had mentally drained him.

_'RAWR...got to...find...Tetsusaiga soon. I'm...RAWR...starting to lose...the battle...RAWR...of wills.'_ InuYasha thought in his mind. _'Can't...lose...the battle. If I...lose it...the others...and Kagome...will die...by my hands. Kagome...'_ Those thoughts about Kagome gave his mind a second wind and InuYasha started to pick up the pace as he fought even harder to lock in on the mental pulses the Tetsusaiga was putting in his mind. He went down a few more corridors, the Fang's pulse getting very strong now. Going through an entrance into a room, he saw it. Like a white standout in a field of red in his vision, he saw it, the Tetsusaiga.

He slowly walked toward it, but he also felt his youkai side becoming even stronger too, feel the bloodlust increasing, trying to get him to turn and abandon the sword. InuYasha's breathing became very labored as he approached the Fang, but one more burst of an image of Kagome in his mind was all he InuYasha needed to finally beat the bloodlust back long enough to reach out and grab hold of the Tetsusaiga's hilt.

Then, in a matter of moments, it was over. His vision cleared up, and the bloodlust faded. He had done it! His human heart had managed to do something that until now he had not thought possible, match wills with his youkai instincts. But the price had been huge. He was now mentally exhausted, and InuYasha collapsed onto the floor to recuperate a little. He briefly pulled Tetsusaiga from it's sheath, and admired the Fang.

"Well, Tetsusaiga, for the second time, I'm glad to say I have you back where you belong, at my side where you're supposed to be." he said with a grin. Looking around, he noticed the rest of the group's gear in here too: Miroku's staff; Kagome's backpack, bow, and quiver; Link's Master Sword and shield; Epona's saddlebags; and Sango's Hiraikotsu and katana. InuYasha also heard a mew too. Looking around, he saw Kirara in a small cage. He got up and walked over, using Tetsuaiga to cleave the lock off, then opening the cage. Kirara walked out and leaped up onto his shoulder, licking him. "It's good to see you too Kirara. Let's go find Sango now." InuYasha said. Exiting the room, InuYasha listened intently, and heard the sound of a large crowd cheering. It seemed like they were cheering on to a fight of some kind, and he started toward it, Kirara trotting behind him.

-

Sango was no longer seeing one Shawnatoree now, she was seeing three, out of one eye too. Her right eye was now swollen completely shut, and blood was now oozing down the side of her face from a cut below her right eye on her now heavily swollen up cheek. Her ribs were hurting now too, but not very bad. The biggest thing that was bothering Sango now was a pounding headache that was hurting as much as a migraine.

She saw Shawnatoree throw another left hand punch. In her view, it seemed to come at her in slow motion before landing with a pronounced THUD on the right side of her face on her cheek, and Sango's head snapped back again, sending blood and sweat flying, but it didn't faze her. She was completely numb to the pain of punches to her face and head now. She smoothly countered with a right handed uppercut that landed right on Shawnatoree's chin, and Shawnatoree backpedaled a little.

Shawnatoree wasn't in much better shape than Sango was. She could still see out of both of her eyes, but blood was seeping out of a cut above her left eye. Huge pain and soreness was throbbing from her side however. Her eyes watched in seemingly slow motion as Sango reared back with her right hand and delivered another hard, powerful shot to her hurting side and ribs. It landed with a hard THUD too and Shawnatoree groaned in pain loudly. She immediately countered with a series of quick left jabs to Sango's eyes, and finished with a huge right to the jaw that actually sent Sango sprawling to the ground. But Sango got back up.

"Insolent wench! How much of a pounding can you take?" Shawnatoree seethed out.

"Plenty more. You're not looking so good yourself, but you're still on your feet. I guess I'm going to have break one of your ribs before you'll stop." Sango replied, dashing forward and slamming her knee hard again into Shawnatoree's side, then immediately following it up with another knee to the Gerudo's stomach, Shawnatoree letting out a "WHOOF!" and spitting blood at the same time.

"Come on Shawnatoree! Fight back! Put her on the ground again!" the crowd was shouting.

Shawnatoree knew she was in trouble and wrapped her arms around Sango to try and rest while leaning against her, but Sango took the opportunity to start slamming right handed punches into Shawnatoree's side again. This time, Sango was pounding the Gerudo's ribs so hard that Shawnatoree was actually getting lifted up off the ground a little from each fist that Sango was burying into her side. Tears of agony started to flow from Shawnatoree's eyes as she felt explosion after explosion of pain erupt from her ribs. After one particular punch, both female warriors heard a distinct CRACK.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Shawnatoree then howled in immense agony as she felt one of her ribs break from Sango's relentless punching, the pain induced tears now flowing from her eyes, both of them now closed in agony.

Sango wrestled Shawnatoree's arms from around her and backed away, and then delivered a roundhouse kick to Shawnatoree's forehead. Shawnatoree staggered, both her hands now holding her side, and Sango delivered another roundhouse kick to the wounded Gerudo's head. Shawnatoree saw her world go black as she collapsed, out cold, to the ground.

A dead silence filled the room then as Sango now bent over and put her hands on her knees to support herself, breathing deeply and heavily. She was exhausted. But still, she walked up to Shawnatoree put a finger to her neck to check for a pulse. It was there, and strong, and Sango smiled.

"YOU! You bested her! How disgraceful!" A Gerudo shouted from the audience in anger.

"We cannot let this disgrace go unpunished!" Another shouted. "Get her! Kill her now!"

-

InuYasha and Kirara were moving fast down corridors to where they were hearing the sound of the roaring crowd. As they moved, two smells hit InuYasha's senses. First it was the smell of Sango's blood, but it was faint. He also faintly smelled the blood of the Gerudo who had been leading Ganondorf around yesterday.

_'What the hell's going on?'_InuYasha thought. As he continued on, the crowd suddenly went silent, and then InuYasha heard words he didn't want to hear:

"We cannot let this disgrace go unpunished! Get her! Kill her now!"

"Crap. Come Kirara, double time it!" InuYasha shouted. Through a door up ahead, InuYasha entered the arena. What he saw made his blood run cold and stoked his anger.

Sango was being held from behind by one Gerudo as other Gerudo took turns punching and kicking her in the face, stomach, breasts, and ribs. InuYasha saw that Sango's face was bruised, bloodied, and swollen. Him and Kirara now went into action. Sheathing Tetsusaiga, InuYasha took a huge leap over the crowd and with a hard punch, knocked away the Gerudo who'd been pounding on Sango. Using his legs and feet, he continued to beat away the nearby Gerudo, first freeing Sango from who was holding her and quickly putting her on Kirara's back after she flew down.

"Get her out outta here Kirara!" InuYasha shouted. Kirara growled and flew towards' the exit faster than the persuing Gerudo could keep up. At that time Shawnatoree started to regain conscioussness and she rolled over onto her back. Other Gerudo started to help her up when she saw InuYasha.

"Kill the dog boy! Now!" She said weakly.

"I'm not sure if you want to. Look what I can do." InuYasha said as he pulled Tetsusaiga. _"Kaze no Kizu!"_ InuYasha shouted as he unleashed the attack, but not toward a group of Gerudo. Instead, he aimed for the ceiling of the small battle arena, blowing a large hole in the clay roof. All the Gerudo froze in horror, including Shawnatoree. "With just a few of those, I can easily kill all of you. If you don't want that unleashed on you, then let me and my friends go."

Shawnatoree thought for a moment as searing pain continued to throb from her broken rib.

"Leader, Ganondorf will punish us severely if we let them go! Don't do it!" One Gerudo shouted.

"And if I don't, we all die anyway. The dog boy has just shown us he has the capability to. It's better to fight, run away and live to fight another day than to fight to the last warrior. When the last one is gone, that's it. We are finished. You and your friends are free to go. No doubt you've probably killed the guards who were restraining you, so I wish not to lose any more of my warriors. Some of you get to work escorting them out and return their gear to them." Shawnatoree said through gritted teeth. All the other Gerudo started staring at her. "Don't just stand there! Get me to the medicine room! That wench broke one of my ribs! Move it, and be gentle with me!" she shouted, more pain-induced tears of agony rolling down her face from the exertion of shouting. The other Gerudo started to help her off as InuYasha proceeded for the corridor where he smelled Kirara had taken Sango.

In the corridor, Sango was laying on Kirara's back still. InuYasha walked up and knelt down to look into her battered and bruised face. He reached up and felt her neck for a pulse. It was there.

"Sango, Sango! You alright?" InuYasha asked her. Sango's non-swollen eye opened slowly and looked at him.

"InuYasha...thanks for the save there. I thought...for sure that was it. I was too exhausted...to even put up a fight...when they rushed me." she said weakly.

"What the hell was going on in there?" InuYasha asked.

"They had me fight their leader in a hand-to-hand duel until either me or her were unable to continue. I won, but just barely." Sango replied, then continued. "Miroku. Have you seen him InuYasha?"

"I killed his tormentors earlier. I'll take you to him."

"Thanks." Sango then closed her eye to continue resting as Kirara carried her and followed InuYasha to Miroku's cell.


	24. Into The Desert

The Green-clothed Warrior  
An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **XXIII**: _Into The Desert_

As InuYasha led Kirara down a corridor to Miroku's cell, a solitary Gerudo guard soon caught up with them. InuYasha pulled Tetsusaiga at seeing her.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" InuYasha asked rudely at her.

"Sheathe that weapon of yours. I'm only on my way to inform the monk's torturers to cease." she said.

"No need to. I killed them a little while earlier, before I crashed your taijiya-beating party, so Miroku's all by himself." Immediately the Gerudo dashed in front of him and made to pull out her scimitar, but InuYasha immediatly and skillfully sliced at her stomach and cut into her skin. The Gerudo doubled over, clutching herself there. She was in no mortal danger though, as InuYasha had only inflicted a bleeding, superficial wound. "Consider that a little bit of a warning. Try anything else, and next I lop off your head." InuYasha said, edginess in his voice. The Gerudo only hissed at him and fell back into stride beside him.

When they reached Miroku's cell, and the Gerudo saw how bad her fellow thieves had been brutally slain, she only hissed again through gritted teeth, her eyes closed.

**"May you burn in the hottest pits of hell you damn monster you!"** the Gerudo seethed.

"Just to let you know, the ones who were responsible for attempting to torture and kill first me and Link, then Kagome and Shippo, they're in the same state too." InuYasha said.

**"DAMN YOU TO HELL!"** She started to try and storm out, but InuYasha grabbed her and slugged her hard in the kidneys. "AHHH!" she howled.

"Oh no you don't. You're staying with me so I can make sure you don't sneak off and kill my other friends." InuYasha said. He then walked over to Kirara and gently picked Sango up from the fire neko's back. Miroku was resting, having not moved from the same spot. InuYasha gently carried and set Sango down right beside him. "Hey, Miroku, Sango. Wake up." Miroku's eyes slowly opened first.

"Inu...Yasha? You're back...to normal?" Miroku asked.

"Right. Sango's beside you. I'll be back in here soon with Kagome. Kirara, stay with them while I escort our Gerudo friend with me to where Link, Kagome, and Shippo are." InuYasha said. Kirara growled in agreement and shrunk, then padding over to the monk and taijiya, as InuYasha led the Gerudo out.

Miroku was apalled at the shape Sango was in.

"My dear Sango..." Miroku said sadly. As he reached over and lifted Sango's chin slightly with a finger, Sango's non-swollen eye opened a little.

"Hou...Houshi-sama?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm here." Miroku said.

"Houshi-sama!" Sango cried as she then painfully put her arms around Miroku. "Houshi-sama, I thought the worst had happened." she said through tears.

"Dear Sango, I thought the same for you. But Buddha has saved us by first freeing InuYasha so he could free all of us." Miroku said as he soothingly rubbed Sango's back.

"Houshi-sama, just hold me for awhile. Please." Sango said through tears.

"I will my dearest Sango, I will." Miroku said as he kept Sango in the deep hug she had initiated.

-

After being freed by InuYasha, Link had been able to free Kagome and Shippo, and they had now exited the torture room and were and moving about the halls of the fortress, trying to find Link's weapons and supplies. Because of his injuries, Kagome was helping Link walk, one of his arms around her shoulder. Link needed to drink some of his medicine so his wounds could be healed. Rounding a corner, all three of them almost ran into InuYasha and the Gerudo guard.

"InuYasha! You're okay!" Kagome said.

"Yeah, what about it?" InuYasha said.

"InuYasha, you found your sword I see. Take us to where you found it. That's probably where the rest of our stuff is." Link said. InuYasha turned and looked at the captive Gerudo he had with him as a few other Gerudo approached with their stuff. "Huh? Why the heck are the Gerudo suddenly helping us out?" Link asked.

"They had all gathered together in an arena here in this fortress and I threatened to kill them all with a Kaze no Kizu." InuYasha said.

"That, and also I've now come to like all of you." they all turned to see Shawnatoree and some of her guards with her. She now seemed to be fine. Miroku and Sango were following her, as well as the carpenter and his workers. "I suggest we go outside and have a talk." Shawnatoree said. The Gerudo that had followed InuYasha was aghast.

"Shawnatoree! You defy the will of King Ganondorf?" she said. Shawnatoree ran up to her and kicked her in the head, knocking her out.

"Now, like I said, let's all go outside and talk, so I can explain things." she then said. They all followed Shawnatoree and her group of Gerudo guards outside into a courtyard of sorts.

"Okay, explanation. What's with the sudden change in things? What hidden purpose is there to this?" Link asked sternly.

"The dogboy's sword that's what. Here, have some of your medicine." Shawnatoree said as she handed Link a bottle of his red medicine. She noticed that Link looked at it skeptically. "Don't worry, it's safe. I didn't have it poisoned or anything like that." she then said, trying to reassure him.

"InuYasha's sword?" Link asked.

"That's right. He showed us that special attack of his. None of us Gerudo have seen anything like it. I know I could have called King Ganondorf back here to protect us from it, but King Ganondorf does not like being bothered, and I've noticed over the past few years he's started to forget about us, ever since he got the Triforce. Right girls?" Shawnatoree asked.

"That's right." one of the other Gerudo said. "He's pretty much abdicated the throne of the Gerudo tribe. We've also been seriously doubting too for awhile his story of what happened to Nabooru."

"Nabooru? Who's that?" Link now asked, his wounds and internal injuries healing up nicely now as he drank the red medicine.

"Nabooru was Ganondorf's right hand seven years ago when he started his search for the Triforce. She was with him at first off, but then she started to question his tactics in getting the Spiritual Stones. A lot of us did." Shawnatoree said.

"You mean most of you didn't like how Ganondorf was causing a lot of pain and suffering to get the Spiritual Stones?" Sango now asked.

"That's right. Though we are thieves, we Gerudo do have a code of morals. We only steal from those who could do without what it is we steal from them. So most of the time we were stealing from the very, very wealthy." Shawnatoree started.

"Wait a minute, what about the reports of common travelers getting brutally murdered at the entrance to the Valley?" Kagome now asked.

"That was the work of those of us who were the most loyal to Ganondorf. They did that in secret apparently. Ganondorf abided by that code at first, but not when he started searching for the Triforce. At that point, it didn't matter who it was. If they were in the way of his quest for the Triforce, they were murdered or intimidated, even if they were poor. Nabooru meanwhile, did not like this sudden turn of events, and started openly questioning Ganondorf's actions. A lot of us did along with her. Well, lo and behold, just a few days before Ganondorf assaulted Hyrule Castle, Nabooru mysteriously disappeared. Ganondorf just simply said that she had gotten killed while out on a thieving job, but not a lot of us believed it. It did serve as a good enough warning to the rest of us however. Shawnatoree took over as Ganondorf's right hand afterwards." another Gerudo said. InuYasha was now starting to growl.

"If all this is true, why the hell have you all waited until now to try and defy him?" he asked angrily.

"Because until now, we all knew that Ganondorf was too strong for all of us to try and take down. But with you showing us that Kaze no Kizu of yours and helping the Hero of Time out, along with you, lecherous monk, and the taijiya, we know he can be defeated." Shawnatoree said, then walking up to Sango. "I would like to apologize for putting you through that bout earlier, but I really wanted to see what you were really capable of. You sure do hit hard. That punch that broke my rib was the hardest I've ever been punched."

"Apology accepted. You fought good yourself. I was purposely trying not to kill you." Sango replied. Shawnatoree then looked over at one of her guards.

"Tana, would you go and open up the gateway to the desert for our new friends plase?" she asked.

"Yes, I will." Tana replied, bowing her head, then walking off to another area of the fortress. InuYasha walked up to Shawnatoree.

"What about those that I killed mercilessly earlier?" he asked. "Aren't you mad at me over that still?" Shawnatoree smiled at him.

"No, I'm not. Those were the ones we knew for sure were still completely loyal to Ganondorf. I'd actually like to thank you for killing them." she said. A thought now came to Shawnatoree, and she snapped her fingers. "Oh! Almost forgot. Sheba, come here for a second."

"Yes, your highness?" Sheba, another Gerudo said as she walked up.

"Take this knife with you and make for Ganondorf's Castle to inform him that our new friends have escaped. Use the knife to wound yourself convincingly **before** you talk to him to make it look as if you were injured pretty badly during battle. Be sure you bloody up your horse with your own blood some too to make it look even more convincing when he leaves and sees your horse. After our friends leave for the Desert Colossus, the rest of us will wreck up the Fortress some to look as if they forcibly escaped in case Ganondorf comes to verify your story." Shawnatoree said to her, handing her a sharp knife.

"I understand. When do I leave?" Sheba asked. Shawnatoree turned to Link and his friends.

"Do you all feel ready to leave for the Colossus and enter the desert today?" she asked.

"I'm not." said Link. "Even though the medicine has healed my wounds, the torture session did still take a lot out of me." Link said.

"Same story for Houshi-sama and I." said Sango. Shawnatoree nodded, and turned back to Sheba.

"You leave tomorrow then, after our new friends leave. Go and prepare for your journey, and gather up anything you can to take with you to make the deception work all the better. Also, when you leave, do not be in a hurry. Take your time, for a real wounded and maimed warrior would be slow to travel someplace. If you travel to Ganondorf's too quickly, he'll most likely become very suspicious when you talk to him." she said.

"Yes, your highness. It shall be done as you have said." Sheba said, then walking off. Shawnatoree now called the carpenters and the craftsmen up.

"You are free to leave, but when asked how you escaped, you WILL tell everybody that the Hero and his group freed you by force. Nothing more." Shawnatoree said.

"Fine with us." the master craftsman said. "Your messenger might be delayed a little bit in informing Ganondorf in your little ruse. The bridge is still out. It'll take us probably the rest of the day today and part of tomorrow to fix it." he said.

"So much the better." Shawnatoree said, then turning back to Link and the group.  
"Come, we shall give you lodging for the night. The journey through the desert to the Desert Colossus is a dangerous one for the rested and prepared, and suicidal for the unprepared and fatigued. And as for you monk," she said, gesturing to Miroku, "even though we didn't kill you, that doesn't mean we're going allow to you satisfy your lecherous fantasies. You will not receive bedding with any of us, only your friends."

Miroku sighed as they walked back into the Fortress, while Sango walked up beside Shawnatoree and whispered in her ears.

"Thanks for that. That's even better than the apology." she whispered.

"Don't mention it." Shawnatoree whispered back.

-

Dusk was settling over the fortress as the group and Shawnatoree sat down in the biggest room of the Gerudo Fortress for supper. It being a thieves' hideout, there wasn't really that much in the way of amenities. They were sitting on wooden boxes at a crude table when the food was brought in. This was where the group saw that the Gerudo liked to go high class on the food.

"This stuff is good! Better tasting then the rice balls we have a lot of the times back home!" Shippo said.

"Thanks for the compliment. Now, there are a few things I need to tell you all about the desert before you leave tomorrow." Shawnatoree started. They all stopped eating for a moment and looked at her.

"Yes, what is it?" Link asked on behalf of everybody. Shawnatoree snapped her fingers and a servant walked in with the glasses cases for the Truth Glasses, handing a case first to Link, then Sango. Since she was sitting beside Miroku, Miroku started to try and move his hand behind the servant. But without missing a beat, the servant in a flash pulled a knife out of her waist sash and quickly pressed the tip of it to Miroku's jugular.

"Go ahead and try, monk. I have no qualms against spilling your blood all over this table and all over this delicious food." she said coldly. Sango was also giving Miroku a look of death. The lecherous monk sighed and moved his hand back to where it was, and the servant walked off without another word.

"Now that that's taken care of," Shawnatoree started, "those Truth Glasses are going to be critically needed to get through the Haunted Wasteland tomorrow."

"Haunted Wasteland?" asked Shippo. "I'm not sure if I want to go there." he said, starting to shake a little.

"That's right. The Haunted Wasteland is what we call the expanse of desert between the Fortress and the Desert Colossus, which we prefer to actually call the Spirit Temple. Two trials await you all in the Haunted Wasteland if you are to pass through it." the Gerudo leader continued.

"Dammit! More stupid tests! What's with all of them?" InuYasha said rudely. Kagome looked sternly at him.

"Osuwari." WHAM! InuYasha's face slammed hard against the stone floor, and as he looked up, growling, a small bit of blood could be seen dribbling from his nose. "Shawnatoree, please continue." Kagome now said.

"Nice trick you have of controlling the dogboy. Anyway, the first trial is called the River of Sand. Only those wearing the Truth Glasses can easily find the right path through it. After the River of Sand,is a series of trailmarking flags we placed as guideposts that lead to the next trial. The second test is the Phantom Guide. In this test the Truth Glasses are essential, for if you don't use them, you'll lose your way and wind up lost in the desert to die of thirst and starvation." Shawnatoree finished. Shippo was now visibly trembling.

"I'm scared." he said.

"Now, now Shippo." Kagome said, picking him up and letting him cuddle against her. "We'll be fine as long as we follow Link and Sango. They'll have the Truth Glasses to lead us."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the Spirit Temple?" Link now asked.

"Not really, except I'd like you to try and find Nabooru there for us. After she disappeared, Ganondorf strangely declared the Spirit Temple off limits to everybody, so we figure Nabooru's disappearance might have something to do with it. A few went out there on my orders sometime after Ganondorf started really spending a lot of time absent. They never returned. That was the clincher for those of us who were still loyal to Nabooru that Ganondorf did something to her in retaliation for questioning him. Those that were still loyal to him thought nothing of their disappearance. InuYasha, the ones you killed earlier today, among them were several I'm certain were planning to overthrow me and other dissenters of Ganondorf." Shawnatoree finished.

"Okay, we will search for Nabooru then while we're there." Link said. They then finished their supper shortly later and were led to their bedding chambers, fortunately much better than the cells they had started the day in. Their rooms were just as well appointed as the rooms of the daimyo castles they had frequented occasionally in the Feudal Era. The men were put in one room, while Kagome, Sango, and Shippo were in another.

As they were bedding down, Miroku walked over to Link.

"Link, I've got a hunch about something." he said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You think that this Nabooru could be a Sage as well?" Link rubbed his chin for a moment.

"She could be. We won't know for sure until tomorrow when we get to the Desert Colossus." Link said.

"I just hope those damn tests will be easy." InuYasha said.

"I'm not counting on that, InuYasha." Link said.

"Keh."

-

"What's with these rags?" InuYasha asked, looking at the white head scarves and robes Shawnatoree was putting on their heads and bodies, covering them up. It was the next morning and the group was outside the desert gate of the Gerudo Fortress. Before them stood an endless expanse of sand dunes.

"Protection from the sandstorms you'll encounter and go through while traversing the trials. They're white to help protect you from the desert heat and sun. Sango, Link, we've tightened up the arms on the glasses so they won't so easily blow off, but you'll still need to hold onto them probably. Remember to look carefully for the visual clues to the path to cross the River of Sand, and keep a sharp eye out for the marking flags we placed to lead you to the Phantom Guide. Now get going and awaken the last Sage, whoever they are, and try to find Nabooru or at least find out what happened to her." Shawnatoree said as they all then proceeded to walk forward into the Haunted Wasteland.

No sooner had they gone 50 feet from where Shawnatoree had set them off, but immediately the wind began to howl and the sand began to whip around.

"Yikes!" Kagome said at the suddenness of the sandstorm. She grabbed a hold of her scarf and robe to shield herself.

"Help! The wind's blowing me away!" Shippo shouted as the wind started to pick him up off the ground.

"Oh no you don't! Hang on Shippo, I goctha!" InuYasha shouted as he grabbed the airborne kit by the collar. "Kagome, get on my back!" he then shouted over the wind. Kagome did while Kirara grew to her large size to give Sango and Miroku something to hold on to. They tried now to walk forward, but made slow progress. Soon they spotted a pair of flags up ahead, and they passed through them. Beyond it they saw a huge deluge of sand flowing like a river.

"The River of Sand!" Miroku shouted.

"Sure looks like it!" Link shouted back. Miroku walked up to the edge of it and started to put his foot in it. The moment his foot touched river it was pulled in and Miroku started to be pulled in!

"Houshi-sama!" Sango shouted, running forward and grabbing his arm. Link ran up too and grabbed Sango around the waist and they both, grunting and groaning, pulled Miroku to safety.

"Whew! That was too close! Thank you dear Sango." Miroku said, then making a move to try and rub her behind. Sango immediately grabbed his hand and gave him a cold look.

"Don't start. Now isn't the time." she said. Miroku then started looking around at the river of sand.

"This presents a problem. How to cross this..." he said. Kagome looking around too, was the first to notice them.

"Hey Link!" she shouted.

"What is it?" he shouted back.

"Look!" Kagome pointed to some crates she vaguely saw on the other side of the river along with another pair of flags. There was also another crate a few feet from them on the current side of the sand river where they were. "Link, you think that 'grappling hook' device of yours would work on those?" she now asked. Link's eyes lit up.

"Good thinking Kagome. Yeah, it should. Let me try a test on this crate right here." Link said, digging out his Longshot from the bag on his back. He set the bag down for a moment and took aim at the crate that was close to them, and fired. The hook dug into the crate and pulled Link over to it. "Yep. It'll work." Link now dug through his bag some more and pulled out the older Hookshot and handed it to Miroku. "Here. That distance looks like this one won't reach, but give it a try anyway." he said. Miroku nodded, and walked up to a spot on the sand river band where he had a good line of fire on one of the crates on the opposite side. He pulled back the arming handle on the Hookshot, and let fly with it. The Hookshot's pointed hook flew out far, but it did not reach them. "I was afraid of that." Link said loudly. "I'm going to have to take us over one at a time."

"I'll go first. That way I can keep hold of anybody who starts to lose their footing on the other side." InuYasha said, walking up and putting his arms around Link in a tight bear hug. Link now took aim at one of the crates and let fly. This time, the Longshot's chain was long enough to reach, and InuYasha let out a short grunt at the suddeness of them being yanked over to the side, over the sand river. Kagome was next, with a frightened Shippo hanging on to her for dear life, followed by Miroku and finally Sango and Kirara. The group now plodded on, still fighting the wind and billowing sand the whole way.

After the river, just as the Gerudo had said, they started finding the trailmarking flags. However they were very, very hard to see, and they all had to stop several times to make sure they weren't following an illusion by Link and Sango briefly donning the Truth Glasses. After following the flags for some time, they soon came upon a structure that appeared to be a stone bunker of some kind.

"What is this thing?" InuYasha said. "Looks like nothing but a damn dead end to me." he said.

"Where's the phantom guide?" Shippo shouted loudly. Link meanwhile donned the Truth Glasses again, and he saw it.

"Sango, I see it. Put on your Glasses." he said. She did too, and now saw also what Link was seeing. Up on top of the bunker-like structure was a large Poe ghost.

"That's the Guide alright." Sango said. Link now walked up to the bunker to see if he could get the Poe's attention.

"I sure hope this Poe doesn't attack us." Link said offhandedly as he approached the bunker.

"Of course I won't attack you. That's not my job. My only job is to guide you since you can see me. Let your friends follow you, and you follow me, and I shall guide you all, but only one way. Getting back you will have to do on your own." the Poe said as it then started to float in a certain direction. Link and Sango started following it, while the others started following Link and Sango. InuYasha though was a little annoyed.

"Why the hell is this spook not wanting to show us how to get back?" he wondered out loud.

"InuYasha!" Kagome interjected him. "Don't be so rude. There's probably another way back after we get done with this." _'At least I hope there is.'_ she then wondered. For the next hour or so, the guide at first seemed to only lead them in circles, with them having to stop occasionally for water from their water rations. However with dusk approaching the guide dissappeared and after walking forward a little more, the sandstorms and wind subsided, and they emerged to see up ahead a huge statue hewn out of the side of a giant plateu.

The group started to walk forward when suddenly green colored blob looking enemies sporting spikes sprung up out of the ground close to them and started to come towards them! In a flash, the Master Sword and the Tetsusaiga were out and the blobs had been sliced up.

"That was close. I hate Leevers." said Link.

"Let's explore that statue." InuYasha said, pointing toward the statue. Even in the light of dusk, they could see it was a giant colossal statue of a Gerudo.

"No wonder they call it the Desert Colossus." Sango said. "Even from a distance from it like we are, it's still large."

"Actually InuYasha, let's find shelter first. It's getting dark fast." Link said, pointing toward the rapidly setting sun.

"Keh. You weak humans and Hylians." InuYasha said.

"InuYasha, we've been traveling in the desert all day. My lips are already dry and starting to chap." siad Kagome. As the sun now set bringing on the night, and the moon appeared, the group followed Link over to and along a rock wall that had some palm trees growing beside it, Kagome getting out a flashlight to help them see.

"Palm trees. That's a good sign. Means there's water here somewhere." Link said. They continued along the wall until they came upon a large crack in the wall, and Link stopped for a moment. "Hmm. I wonder..." he said. He opened up his bag and got out his bag of explosives. "Everbody stand back for a moment."

"What's gonna be behind the rock?" Shippo asked.

"A cave hopefully we can sleep in tonight that can also maybe serve as shelter from the sun and sand for everybody while I and whoever's accompanying me explore the Spririt Temple tomorrow." Link said as he laid a small powder charge at the base of the crack, and used his tinbox to light it. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Link now shouted and everybody then jumped back and dropped down to cover themselves up.

**BOOM!**

The explosion sent rock chunks and smoke everywhere, while also lighting up the area briefly when the charge went off. After the smoke and debris settled, what was left was a nice sized hole they could walk through.

It was immediately apparent this was no ordinary cave. Just inside the hole was a stone walkway that led down a short flight of stairs, lots of torches well illuminating the way, until they entered a room that made everybody except Link and InuYasha gasp.

The room was a large, white marble one well illuminated by torches, with a large white marble fountain in the middle of it.

"Wow! What a beautiful cave!" Kagome said.

"This is spectacular looking!" Sango said, both her and Kagome looking around in wonder.

"Shawnatoree wasn't kidding then when she told me about this fountain." Link said. He walked up in front of the fountain and saw a familiar Triforce crest in the floor, Miroku and InuYasha with him.

"What's this crest doing here?" Miroku asked. Link simply got out the Ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby on it. There was a bright flash, a shimmering sound, and a large, very beautiful fairy was now floating above the fountain.

"WHOA! What's that?" Shippo said, scared. He now hid behind Kagome.

"Don't be afraid little one. I mean none of you any harm." the fairy now said.

"Wow, I didn't know such beauty existed! She could-" BIFF! "OWW!" Miroku started, but was swiftly silenced by a hard kidney punch from Sango.

"Which Great Fairy are you?" Link now asked politely.

"The Great Fairy of Wisdom, Hero. I see you have the Allies with you. You have one more Sage to awaken right?" the fairy asked.

"Indeed we do. I've come to specifically ask you if we may seek shelter in here tonight and tomorrow from the desert, until our tasks here at the Spirit Temple are finished." Link asked.

"Yes, you may. I know how difficult it is in finding water and shelter in the desert, so I don't mind. My domicile here is the best shelter that can be found in the entire desert. Hero, I have something I want to give you. You have two magic spells given you by my friends the Great Fairies of Power and Courage, Farore's Wind and Din's Fire am I correct?" the fairy asked.

"I do. You have another spell to grant me?"

"Indeed. Recieve it now." the fairy said, then floating over and raising her arms up above Link. The floor below him seemed to glow a deep blue briefly, and Link felt an etheral presence enter him and bond with him, and he knew immediately how to use the new spell. Her work finished, the fairy now floated back over above the fountain.

"What is this spell you've now given me?" Link asked.

"This is Nayru's Love. It erects a powerful defensive screen around you to protect you. This spell will be invaluble in the Spirit Temple. You can not only cast it upon yourself, but you can also cast it upon one other person as well. Fair warning however. Nayru's Love will not stop the force of attacks on you. Attacks will be reflected back, but you'll be knocked around though still if the attack is very strong. Also of course, the effects of the spell don't last indefinitely, and it will have to be recast to keep it's effects sustained."

"I understand."

"Now, go ahead and make yourselves at home. If you need me for anything else that I can help you with, have Link replay the song of the Royal Family on the crest. I'm now returning to my slumber. May you all bring down Ganondorf soon." the fairy said as she then disappeared.

"She sure was a little scary." Shippo said.

"But she was very helpful, letting us bed down in here for however long we'll be here at the Spirit Temple." Sango said.

"Too bad she couldn't tell us who the last Sage is." InuYasha said as they all got out their camping stuff to have a brief supper before going to sleep for the night. After they finished supper, Link replayed Zelda's Lullaby on the crest to re-call the fairy.

"Yes?" she asked politely after reappearing.

"We're going on to sleep now. We were wanting to put some of the torches out so we could sleep, but we wanted ask if it was okay first." Link said. The fairy then snapped her fingers and the torches dimmed considerably.

"Anything else you need?" she asked.

"No that's it. We won't disturb you anymore tonight."

"Okay." the fairy disappeared, and the group bedded down for the night.

-

The next morning came quickly, and the group soon was back up and now standing at the entrance to the Desert Colossus. They walked forward slowly into it. Inside, the group immediately saw a staircase flanked on each side by a large snake statue with writing on both of them. Sango walked up to one of the statues. She had learned to read Hylian somewhat in the Shadow Temple with Link's help.

"_'Returning to the past here will require the pure heart of a child.'_" she read. "That doesn't make sense." Link looked at the other statue.

"_'The path to the future can be opened only with the power of silver from the past.'_ Strange." he said. InuYasha and the others meanwhile had walked up the steps and noticed two Armos statues.

"What's with these statues?" Kagome asked she started to reach toward one.

"Kagome don't-" Link started to shout, but he was too late. Kagome touched the statue and it grunted and came to life! It started to jump towards her!

"AHH!" Kagome shouted in shock. InuYasha ripped the Tetsusaiga from its sheath and sliced at the statue. It grunted again and started to spin in place as Kagome ran back down the stairs to get away from it. Just when Link was about to warn InuYasha to get away from the statue as well, the statue exploded, BOOM, showering InuYasha with rock pebbles.

"OUCH! Damn that hurt! Link you could have warned me that that damn thing was about to blow up!" he said.

"I was just about to." Link said.

"Keh. Yeah right." InuYasha now looked around some more and saw a wall with a tiny crawspace at the bottom of it, and what looked to be the entrance to a corridor that looked to be blocked off by a massive wall of black granite. The black wall had the symbol of the Gerudo on it, a large crescent with a star in it.

With the Tetsusaiga still out, InuYasha walked over to the black wall and took a mighty swing at it, but the only reward he got was a loud CLANG as the sword rebounded off the cold stone. Link now walked up the stairs and put his hands on the wall, and started to push, grunting loudly, the wall not budging any.

"Let me do it you weakling." InuYasha growled as he walked up and joined Link in trying to get the wall to move without success. Miroku walked up and joined them, all three of them groaning as they each pushed with all their might without success.

"We might as well give up. This wall's going nowhere." Miroku said as he sat down with his back to it. Link joined him.

"What do we do now?" Link wondered out loud. InuYasha, looking over at the crawlspace, now got an idea.

_'That crawlspace is too small for all of us to crawl through, except for...'_ InuYasha now grinned an evil grin at Shippo, and Shippo noticed it.

"Uh InuYasha, why are you grinning at me?" the young kit said with a tremble. Kagome noticed it.

"Yes, it'll probably work." InuYasha said as he started to walk over to where Kagome and Shippo were sitting, everybody else looking at him.

"InuYasha, what exactly are you thinking?" Kagome asked in a concerned voice.

"None of us are small enough to fit through that, except for one person." InuYasha said, pointing at the crawlspace. Shippo's eyes opened wide.

"Oh no! I'm not crawling through that! From what you all have seen with Link when you've joined him, there's going to be something big, mean, and nasty waiting to eat me on the other side!" he shouted. InuYasha grinned some more.

"So now you're saying you're scared aren't you? Wow, and to think that just before we found ourselves in this world, you had fought with and by yourself killed a big mean lizard youkai that was trying to eat that young village girl, Satsuki." InuYasha said. Shippo now growled.

"I'm not afraid of anything!" he shouted. "I'll go into that crawlspace and prove it!" he shouted. Link walked up as Shippo walked over to the crawlspace.

"Shippo, try to find a way, if any, to move the black wall will you?" he asked.

"Right." Shippo replied. He then crouched down and crawled through on his own. A few minutes later, everybody suddenly heard Shippo let out a bloodcurdling scream, followed by a loud metallic roar.

"RAAAWWWWWRRRRRR TARRRRGGGG!" it sounded like, followed immediately by a huge **CHANK!** of something metal and very heavy hitting a stone floor.

"Oh no! What was that?" Kagome asked in a scared voice. Link immediately sprinted over to the crawlspace.

"Shippo! This is Link! If you can hear me follow my voice!" Link shouted into it. He then looked over at Kagome and the others. "All of you! Get over here and help me out! He'll recognize our voices and come to us!" he said urgently. Kagome was the first to sprint over and get down onto her hands and knees too and join in with the shouting as they heard another metallic roar, the sound of something whirling in the air and another huge **CHANK** as Shippo screamed again.

"Shippo run to our voices! You can do it!" Sango yelled now.

"I'm here Shippo! Come to me!" Kagome yelled. They continued to shout for another minute or so when suddenly a very terrified, but unharmed Shippo came crawling out of the crawlspace. "Shippo!" Kagome shouted as she picked up the trembling and crying kit and held him. For the next few minutes, Shippo kept his head buried in Kagome's chest as she comforted him. Eventually, he felt good enough to show his face again to everybody.

"Now Shippo, tell us. What happened? What did you see? Go slow." Link said.

"B-b-big...big...suit. Big...metal...suit. Axe...giant...axe. Tried...to...kill...me." Shippo said in a stuttering, chattering voice, tears still streaming from his eyes.

"A giant metal suit of armor carrying an axe? Hmm. Could it be one of those..." Link said aloud.

"What do you think Shippo saw?" Miroku asked.

"I've heard of them before, but the name of them eludes me at the moment." Link said.

"Iron Knuckle." a new voice from the Temple entrance said. They all turned to see Sheik standing in the entranceway into the Temple.

"A what?" Kagome asked as he walked up.

"Iron Knuckle. That's what you saw young Shippo. It was very foolhardy of you to go through that crawlspace alone." he said.

"I was wondering when you'd finally show up." Link said.

"I had to make my way through the desert like the rest of you did. Now, have you looked at and read the inscriptions on the snake statues?" Sheik now asked.

"Yes we did, but they didn't seem to make any sense." Sango said.

"They were giving you the clues you need to figure out where to go. They were talking about the past, present, and future were they not?" Sheik asked.

"They were." said Link.

"They were saying that you have to travel through time Link. You and one other person." Sheik said. Link's eyes opened.

"Wait! I thought you said none of the Allies could travel through time with me?" Link said.

"They couldn't travel back with you at that moment, but there is a way for them to. In order for somebody to travel back with you, they must be holding onto you when you return the Master Sword to the Pedestal. Then both you and them will travel back in time seven years, and they will be seven years younger as well." Sheik said. Link thought for a moment, he then looked at the others.

"How old are each of you?" Link now asked.

"Sango and I are both about 17 to 18." Miroku said. "So we'd both become much younger if we went and could possibly fit through the crawlspace, but our weapons would become a hindrance, and my Kazannaa would be much less effective."

"I wouldn't be able to go either. I'm 15, so I'd be reduced to being a 7 year old." said Kagome.

"Wouldn't affect me a bit. I'd already been on the run for years and years when I met Kikyo. I wouldn't fit in the crawlspace though." said InuYasha.

"That leaves..." Link started say, looking now at Shippo. "How old are you Shippo?" he asked, and Shippo now gulped, he had stopped crying.

"In human years, I'm about 50 or so I guess, but as you can see I'm still only a kid." he said. Sheik nodded.

"As I thought, the fox child is who shall accompany Link this time." Sheik said. Shippo gulped again, then hardened his face.

"Even though I'm scared, I'll do it. I've been through a lot, but my friends have helped me pull through. Link's now my friend, so he'll help me out in this too." he said.

"Indeed I will Shippo. Even though I'll be a kid too like you when we do this, you'll find I won't have changed much." Link said. Sheik now turned to Link, pulling out his harp.

"Link, I now need to teach you a song that will quickly get you and Shippo back here to the Desert Colossus after you both exit the Temple of Time in the past, the Requiem of Spirit." he said as Link got out the Ocarina of Time. Sheik then played the some some and Link joined in. They played the song a few more times, before Sheik put the harp up. "Link, Allies, I'll see you all again soon. After you have awakened the last Sage, meet me in the Temple of Time." Sheik said as he then threw his flash bang grenade on the ground and disappeared. Link turned to Shippo.

"You ready to do this now? We can wait a little bit." he asked. Shippo shook his head.

"No, I want to go now. I want to make up for running back out of there like I did just now, to prove to myself I can pull my share of the load and actually be useful. Let's go now." he said. Link nodded and put the Ocarina to his lips. Kagome however, nudged Shippo on the shoulder, and he turned around.

"Please be careful Shippo, and let Link take care of the really, really dangerous things." she said, a little teary eyed. Shippo jumped back up in her arms and hugged her.

"I will Kagome. Now Link, let's go!" Shippo said as he hopped down and walked over close to Link. Link then played the Prelude to Light on the Ocarina, and him and Shippo disappeared to travel to the Temple of Time.


	25. Search For The Gauntlets

The Green Clothed Warrior

An InuYasha/Legend of Zelda Crossover Fanfiction

By: Patriot1776

Chapter **XXIV**: _Search for the Gauntlets_

After the bright bluish light faded, Shippo let go of Young Link and looked around. He first saw that there were still in the Temple of Time, but when he looked at Young Link, he gasped.

Link was shorter now, the size of an average 10 year old human boy, but his clothes were the same, just smaller sized. Shippo saw also that he was still shorter than him; he came up to about Young Link's waist.

"Wow Link! It worked!" Shippo said excitingly, and Young Link smiled.

"Yes, it did. I'm glad." he then said, and Shippo's eyes opened a little at Young Link's higher pitched, child-like voice. Young Link walked over to a bag against a wall and pulled out his child-size equipment, then also pulling out a small dagger and bringing it over to Shippo. "Here, you may need this. But first, before we go to the Desert Colossus, let me show you how Hyrule Castle Town is supposed to look." Young Link said, then grabbing Shippo's hand.

"Thanks! Let's go then!" Shippo replied excitedly. Both of them ran to the Temple of Time's exit.

When they were outside, Shippo stopped and slowly looked around, in wonder at how beautiful the Temple of Time's grounds looked. The green grass and the full trees on the grounds, along with the picture perfect blue sky, looked so much better. Link now led him to the market square. Again Shippo was absolutely amazed at the sights and sounds of Hyrule Castle Town as Young Link led him around to briefly show him the various shops.

"Shippo, do any of the towns where you come from look like this?" Young Link asked as he now started to lead Shippo to the northern path out of the town that led to Hyrule Castle itself.

"They're just as lively Link, but not as decadent as this. Most of the villages where humans live are very, very poor, full of peasants, but thankfully everybody has their own small, simple shack and hut to stay in and everybody has plenty to eat. The common humans in my world may not live as luxurious as this, but they do get by really, really well." Shippo said.

"That's very good to hear. Makes me almost wish I could briefly come with you all after we've beaten down Ganondorf and its time to send you all back to where you came from." said Link.

"How are we going to get back anyway?" Shippo asked.

"Well, after we take care of Ganondorf and get the Triforce back and we find Princess Zelda, I'm guessing that maybe Princess Zelda will use the Triforce to send you all back." said Young Link. Shippo continued to look around as they approached the outskirts of the town.

"And Ganondorf wrecked all this. He's one big meanie." Shippo said.

"Yes he is. I can't wait really to mess him up good with the Master Sword after we've awakened the last Sage. Here's Hyrule Castle." said Young Link, gesturing ahead. Shippo looked and was awestruck.

"WOW! Such a beautiful building! Fortresses look nothing like this in my world! Can we go inside?" Shippo asked.

"Unfortunately no." said Young Link, shaking his head. A disappointed look came to Shippo's face. Young Link continued. "They've got tight security. But come over here." he now pulled Shippo over to a tangle of vines and he started climbing them. Shippo turned into his pink floating ball form and floated up too, joining Link on a ledge at the top where they had a much better view of Hyrule Castle. After turning back into his usual self and landing back beside Young Link, Shippo asked a question.

"Link, what's in this spot in the future, after Ganondorf has taken over?" he asked. Young Link's face hardened up at that.

"What's here in the future is an utter abomination and complete mockery of this beauty, Ganon's Castle." Young Link paused for a moment. "Come on Shippo, it's time to teleport to the Desert Colossus. Thinking about Ganon's Castle and remembering the sight of it has gotten me wanting to get this over with." he said. Shippo's face hardened up some too, and he nodded.

"Right, let's go then." he said. Young Link pulled out the Ocarina and played the Requiem of Spirit as Shippo got close to him, and both him and Shippo vanished.

-

Both Young Link and Shippo appeared on another triforce crest platform outside the Desert Colossus, but it was several yards from the entranceway.

"Huh, so here it is. I was wondering where this platform was." Young Link said, looking around. Shippo looked at the sky.

"It's getting close to dusk Link. Shouldn't we be going?" Shippo asked.

"Yes, you're right. Let's move and get this over with." Young Link said, and they started for the Temple entrance. As soon as they stepped off the platform however, Leevers rose up suddenly out of the sand!

"Gah!" Shippo said in shock.

"Shippo, get on my shoulders!" Young Link commanded. Shippo did better than that, hopping on top of Young Link's head as Young Link sprinted forward, avoiding the Leevers as he made a dash for stone steps that lead up to the Temple entrance, zigzagging back and forth. When they reached the steps, Shippo got off Young Link and back onto the ground.

"Why didn't we fight them? The Tetsusaiga and the Master Sword wiped those things out easy." Shippo said.

"Because my Kokiri Sword doesn't hurt as much on enemies as the Master Sword does." Young Link replied as he started up the steps, Shippo following him. The sun set just as they entered the Spirit Temple. Inside, nothing appeared any different. The two snake statues were there, with the same writing on them. Going up the stairs, they also saw the Armos statues were there too, as well as the granite block that was blocking the hall to the right. To the left however, at the crawlspace, was a young looking Gerudo woman.

"Whoa. Who's she?" Shippo asked. "Could she be an enemy or ally?"

"There's only one way to find out. Let me do the talking." Young Link said as they started to approach her. However, displaying the keen abilities of the thief she was, heard them and turned around and saw them. Young Link and Shippo froze in their tracks.

"Hmm, I haven't seen either of you around here. What do you two want?" the Gerudo asked.

"Uh, nothing really?" Shippo said as innocently as he could, and a look of dread came across Young Link's face, and he immediately slapped his hand over Shippo's mouth.

"Please forgive-" Young Link started to say, but was cut off.

"Neither of you have anything to do? That's good timing! You're available then. Could you two do a favor then for me?" the Gerudo asked, now smiling. Young Link removed his hand from Shippo's mouth.

"Uh, I guess, as long as you don't kill us." Young Link now said. The Gerudo then laughed at that.

"No silly. Not that. But first I have a question. Are you two followers of Ganondorf?" she now asked. Young Link and Shippo's eye's bugged out at that.

"You're not? How can that be? You're a Gerudo!" Young Link said, flabbergasted.

"Just answer the question." the Gerudo answered.

"No, we're not! We hate him!" Shippo said. The Gerudo nodded and smiled a little.

"Nice, you two have got guts. I like you. Let me introduce myself. I am Nabooru of the Gerudo. I now consider myself a lone wolf thief. But don't get me wrong. Though we're both thieves, I'm completely different from Ganondorf." the Gerudo, Nabooru, said. Young Link raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you Ganondorf's second in command?" he asked. Nabooru frowned.

"I was, and technically still am, but I don't consider myself his subordinate now that I've seen his true side. He's started stealing from poor women and children, even killing a few of them. You kids may not know this, but the Gerudo is a race composed only of women. A solitary male Gerudo is born only once every hundred years. Our laws state that the male Gerudo must rule as King, but my conscience drives me to now defy those laws, now that Ganondorf has shown himself to be one of pure evil. By the way, what are you two kids' names?" Nabooru asked.

"I'm Shippo, a kitsune, or fox youkai."

"Link is my name." Nabooru looked at Young Link.

"Are you a Kokiri? Your clothing suggests it." she asked. Young Link shook his head.

"No, I'm not. I'm Hylian, but I was raised among the Kokiri." he said. Nabooru nodded.

"So, now that we know each other's names, what was that favor you were going to ask us?" Shippo now asked.

"Oh, that's right. I need you two to crawl through this crawlspace here and find me a certain treasure." Nabooru said.

"A treasure? What kind of treasure?" Young Link asked.

"The treasure is the Silver Gauntlets. If you wear them, you can push and pull very, very heavy things." Nabooru's face then took on a grim look. "Now let me warn you. Don't you two **dare** think of taking these Gauntlets for yourselves. The Gauntlets won't even fit on either of you, especially you, little fox. Instead, you two are going to be good little boys and bring them back to me." A pole axed look crossed both Shippo and Link's faces. Nabooru continued. "Ganondorf and some of the most loyal of the other Gerudo and a few others of his minions are using the Spirit Temple as a hideout. The Silver Gauntlets are the only thing that will allow me to sneak into the depths of it. Once inside, I'm going to steal all the treasure that Ganondorf has hoarded up to foul up whatever his plans are. So what do you say? Will you two go and find me the Silver Gauntlets?" Before Shippo could say anything, Young Link lightly kneed Shippo in the side to keep him quiet.

"Sure we will. If it helps to screw up whatever Ganondorf's doing, we're in on it." Young Link said. Nabooru smiled.

"Thanks a lot you two. All three of us, let's give Ganondorf a nice surprise, shall we? If you two can get the Silver Gauntlets, I'll repay you both nicely." Nabooru said, then started to leave. "I'll be waiting right here." Nabooru said. Young Link nodded and nudged Shippo, and they both crawled into the crawlspace, Young Link going first, Shippo then following him.

Emerging out of the crawlspace, the room on the other side presented steps in front of them, a spiked block moving back and forth trying to impede their progress, and they saw an Armos statue up on a ledge a couple feet above where they were standing.

No sooner had Young Link and Shippo crawled out of the small tunnel, a couple of flaming bats were flying right at them. Young Link quickdrew his slingshot and sank a Deku Seed each into the foreheads of the bats. They both dodged the spike block and went up the stairs to the ledge and saw it was more a raised platform with the Armos statue in the center of it, another spike block circling around it. On the back wall were two burning braziers, another crawlspace, and two more bats roosting on the wall. Flanking the wall on either side was a door each, both barred shut.

Shippo used his kitsune-bi to take one of the roosting bats out while Link took care of the other with his slingshot.

"Say Link, what are we going to do once we have the Gauntlets?" Shippo now asked.

"Use the Prelude of Light to immediately warp back to the Temple of Time and go back to the future. What else?" Young Link replied. A nervous look crossed Shippo's face.

"I don't know about this. Maybe we should instead try to explain things to Nabooru first." he said. Young Link shook his head.

"We don't have any choice. She wouldn't believe us and just think we were trying to pull a stunt on her. Then she'd forcibly take them from us as well as possibly kill us." he then said.

"But didn't Miroku suggest she might be the Seventh Sage?"

"But we don't have any proof of that yet. Until we do, we need to be wary a little of her. Now come on, let's get through this next crawlspace and find a way to open these doors." said Young Link, dropping down on his hands and feet and entering it. Shippo sighed and followed him.

The room at the other end of the crawlspace might as well have been a dead-end. The only thing about it was a large locked door that they did not have a key to. They went back through the crawlspace and thought for a moment in the previous room.

"What do we do now?" Shippo wondered out loud. Young Link looked at the Armos statue.

"I guess we have to destroy the Armos statue. Shippo get to the other side of the room out of the way. I'll handle this." he said. Shippo nodded and avoiding the spike blocks got to a safe place as Link dispatched the Armos statue. Pulling a grenade-sized powder charge out of his explosives bag, Young Link lit it and threw it at the statue. This first bomb got the statue moving and a second bomb got it to spinning in place until it exploded. The doors in the room unbarred after it blew up.

"Which one?" asked Shippo.

"I guess the right one first." Young Link replied. Going through it they saw that the room beyond had a chasm in the middle of it. On their side of it, there were two unlit braziers. On the other side of the chasm was a wall of mesh wire that was on the chasm edge. The middle of it looked to Young Link like it could fall forward and form a bridge for them.

"Want me to use my _kitsune-bi_ and light the braziers?" Shippo asked.

"Go right ahead Shippo. It might make a mesh bridge fall for us to cross." Young Link said. Shippo walked up to each brazier and jumped up, throwing a ball of his kitsune-bi into each one and lighting them with a faint blue glow. They both then heard the sound of a chest falling and hitting the floor somewhere beyond the mesh wall.

Young Link walked up to the chasm edge and squinted his eyes to see what he could see beyond the wire mesh, and saw a faintly burning brazier, some silver rupees, an un-barred door and in the corner presumably the chest that had been released when Shippo lit the braziers.

"Nice work Shippo. You managed to release a chest that had been hidden in the ceiling, even though it didn't release the mesh bridge like I hoped. We gotta go through the other door and find another way." said Young Link.

"Let's hope that chest has something valuable and useful in it." Shippo said as they backtracked into the previous room and entered the left door in it that had been un-barred. Just moments after they stepped through the other door, a Stalfos dropped out of an invisible hole in the ceiling, out of nowhere, directly in front of them!! "AAAAHHHH!!!" Shippo screamed!

"Go around and try to hit it with you _kitsune-bi_ Shippo!" Young Link shouted as he whipped out his Deku Shield and Kokiri Sword. Shippo threw one ball of kitsune-bi at it, but the ball just harmlessly dissipated on the skeleton warrior. "DRAT! Just as I thought! Shippo I got this one! Just stay outta the way!" Young Link again shouted as he started trading sword blows with the Stalfos and parrying with his shield. It would be one of the most challanging fights Young Link would ever have. He found himself getting backed up every time he blocked a sword blow, his Deku Shield creaking and groaning with every sword blow it absorbed. He continued to fight on though, getting in numerous strikes with the Kokiri Sword. Suddenly his Deku Shield splintered into pieces after absorbing another sword strike from the Stalfos, but in the same motion Link returned with a swing of the Kokiri Sword and the Stalfos was permanently broken apart, Shippo cheering.

"Awesome job, Link!" he said. Young Link panted for a moment.

"Whew! That was a close one." he said. Looking around now they noticed that there was another chasm in the room. This time Young Link saw a mesh wall perfectly positioned to fall as a bridge across the chasm. Behind it was a crystal switch. Hovering around in the chasm however, conveniently right where the bridge was supposed to apparently fall, was another one of those skulls with batwings, a green flame around it that went out and re-lit at random.

"My kitsune-bi won't work on that." said Shippo.

"Let me try my slingshot, and I think I know how to activate that crystal switch behind our raised bridge." Young Link said. He tried shooting at the large skull with his slingshot but it had no effect. He now got out his boomerang, took aim, and threw. It stunned the skull and a shot from the slingshot finished it off, it falling into the seemingly bottomless chasm. Young Link now tried to get his boomerang to fly around the mesh bridge to hit the switch but it failed. He then moved off to the side and fired the slingshot and the switch tripped, releasing the mesh bridge so they could walk across. Shippo simply turned into his pink ball form and floated across while Young Link crossed the bridge. A chest was on the other side and Young Link surprisingly found himself another Deku Shield inside it. There was also a door on that side as well and going through it they now entered a room that did not have much of a floor. There was only a thin bridge through the center of the room, the rest of the apparent floor space just being bottomless pit.

As Shippo and Young Link entered the room, or rather one of the platforms that were on the outer parts of the room overlooking the abyss, a strange, mummy looking thing began to float around. Shippo transformed into his floating ball form and began to try and float toward one of the other barred up doors in the room, but the mummy started to float toward him.

"Shippo, watch out!" Young Link shouted. Shippo turned around in midair just in time to see the mummy breathe a stream of fire at him!

"Yikes!!" Shippo shouted as he quickly floated to the side to dodge the flame. He retreated back to where Young Link was and returned to his normal self. Young Link took aim at the mummy and fired the slingshot, but the Deku Seed he shot only bounced off. Shippo, now feeling a little bold, jumped up. "_Kitsune-bi!_" he shouted as he threw a ball of it at the mummy. Surprisingly the mummy grunted a little when the little blue ball of flame hit it.

"Well, it seems like your kitsune-bi has a bit of an affect Shippo." Young Link said.

"Yeah but it ain't strong enough to do a whole lot of damage. Link, could you try throwing one of your black powder bombs at it?" Shippo asked.

"I could try, but I only have a limited number of them, plus I may miss a few times." Young Link replied.

Link now thought for a moment then an idea came to him. He got out his slongshot and shot out the three pots that were in the room, then proceeded to scare Shippo! He ran out onto the center bridge directly toward the floating mummy! The mummy started to move toward him.

"Link! What are you doing?" Shippo shouted, but he saw Young Link run right past the mummy as it breathed its fire again.

"Shippo, lay low for a moment. I've noticed something about the mummy." Young Link said. "Also, stay away from the crystal switch and the door."

Shippo got out of the way as Young Link moved to the part of the room that was opposite the door. The wall of flame had appeared in front of that door earlier when Young Link had hit the crystal switch. The mummy mirrored Young Link's moves until it was floating right in the center of where the flame wall had erupted, and Shippo got the gist of what Young Link was doing. Young Link fired his sling shot at the crystal switch and the mummy was burned to a crisp by the fire.

"Link, it's no wonder you're so much better than InuYasha. You're so much more observant than he is, and you actually use your brain in battle." Shippo said as Young Link met him at the now un-barred door.

"I was truly like this too when I was searching for the Spiritual Stones. InuYasha would have probably not made it out of the Fire Temple alive had I not been with him." Young Link said. Opening the door they now found themselves on the other side of the mesh wall they had found earlier. But Young Link had a feeling of dread wash over him as they entered, a feeling of foreboding. Shippo was about to say something when Young Link silenced him. He then got out his Kokiri Sword and started to walk around carefully when a large, decayed looking hand dropped from an invisible hole in the ceiling, just missing him as he jumped to the side and plunged his sword into his. He looked at Shippo. "Shippo! Above you!" he now shouted. Shippo looked up just in time to see another darkened hand coming down on him too!

"Yikes!" Shippo shouted in surprise. He reactively yanked out the dagger however and pointed it up and it dug into the palm of the hand as it came down onto him. He saw the hand's fingers trying to close around him. _"Kitsune-bi!"_ he shouted, letting out a wall of the fire around him in the same manner as Young Link's fire magic spell. The foxfire stunned the hand momentarily, enough time for him to scramble out from underneath it as Young Link ran up and slashed at it a few times with the Kokiri Sword. The hand now dissolved away and Shippo picked up his dagger. "Thanks for the save Link!" he said.

"No problem Shippo. Oh and Shippo, I won't have to teach you how I do my fire magic after all." Young Link now said with a grin.

"What? What do you mean?"

"You know my fire spell that Sango described? You just did a small sized version of that with your kitsune-bi. It surprised the heck out of that hand, and me too." Shippo's eyes now went wide.

"YES! It worked!" he said. "Now, let's move on!" Looking around in the room now, they saw one bat flying around that Shippo took care of with his kitsune-bi, while Young Link opened the chest that had fallen down when Shippo had earlier lit the braziers. Inside the chest was a key.

"Now we can open that locked door we saw earlier." said Young Link.

"Yep. This is exactly what we needed." Shippo said, then transformed into his floating ball form and began to collect the silver rupees in the room. When the last one was collected, as Young Link thought, the central part of the mesh wall fell forward and formed a bridge and now more bats flew in. Shippo changed back to normal and both him and Young Link worked together to kill them. Crossing the new mesh bridge they made their way back to the locked door they had found earlier. Behind the door was a wall with bricks as apparent hand holds sticking out of it and a few small spider monsters crawling around on the wall. Again, there were two of them, Shippo destroying one with his kitsune-bit while Young Link shot a Deku Seed at the other with his slingshot, destroying it. Shippo again changed to his pink-ball form and floated up while Young Link climbed the wall.

When they got to the top, Young Link looked for a moment at Shippo as he changed back to normal.

"You know, I wonder something Shippo." he said.

"What's that?" Shippo asked.

"Next time we have to climb up something, how about you try carrying me up instead of me climbing?" Shippo now glared at him.

"And why would I do that? You seem perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." he said with an annoyed voice. Young Link chuckled.

"What? Are you saying you can't do it?" he said. Shippo walked up and lightly kicked him in the leg.

"I've carried the others around occasionally, like helping them get up cliffs and the like, but only because they weren't strong enough to make it or the cliff was un-climbable. I'm not carrying you around until you absolutely need it." he now said. Young Link now reached down and patted him on the head.

"Good then, that was a little bit of a test." he said.

Young Link and Shippo now proceeded to look around the new room they were in. This one was larger and they found that part of it appeared to be naturally formed, not constructed artificially. On the floor in a spot they saw what appeared to be some kind of sun emblem, while on one of the naturally formed cavern walls was a crack that was letting a small bit of light in. There was also a crystal switch on one ledge while on the wall opposite the natural cavern-like one was a barred door.

They both also saw a pair of Skulltulas on the wall that were easily disposed of, but walking more into the room, a pair of walking lizard looking warriors dropped down from hidden places.

"Lizalfos! Shippo, if you use your abilities right you can beat these things! They breathe fire, but don't let that keep you from using your kitsune-bi!" Young Link shouted as he engaged one of the lizard warriors with his Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield. Shippo whipped out his dagger and skillfully dodged the lizard warrior's slash at him with its short sword. Shippo tried to slash back but missed.

"_Bunshin!_" Shippo shouted, throwing some of his happa leaves to make duplicates of himself. This confused the Lizalfos greatly and Shippo jumped up onto the Lizalfos head and started stabbing it in the head again and again. The lizaard warrior howled in pain, but then Shippo's dagger made it through bone and into brains with one final stab, and the Lizalfos collapsed just as Young Link landed the finishing blow to his. Young Link nodded at him.

"Nice job Shippo! What was that little trick?" Young Link asked.

"I used some of my illusory magic to make fake copies of myself that really confused the lizard. Hey Link, can I keep this dagger? Maybe by doing what I just did can actually take more of an active role in our battles." he said.

"Go right ahead, you can keep it. Now let's look around and see if we can figure out what we have to do in here." Young Link said. He now got out his slingshot and took aim at the crystal switch. Shooting the switch dropped down a chest close to where they entered the room. Shippo walked over and opened the chest, and was perplexed at what he found inside.

"Link, what are these?" he asked as he turned around and showed Young Link a strange, rat-shaped bomb that appeared to have a set of wheels on it.

"Bombchu? Hmm..." Young Link said, thinking as he now started to look around the room more closely.

"What's a bombchu? Is it these things?" Shippo asked.

"It's a new type of bomb that was developed here in Hyrule about this time, when I was a kid. You set it on the ground and it actually rolls forward, and can even climb up walls. I think I'll be demonstrating it to you shortly Shippo." Young Link said as he looked back and forth between the sun emblem on the floor and the crack in the cavern-like wall. He walked over to Shippo and took the Bombchu from him and got in a spot on the floor that was in front of the crack on the wall. Pulling a string on the Bombchu set its wheels to moving and they both now heard a buzzing and the sound of a burning fuse inside the Bombchu. Young Link set the Bombchu on the floor and it crawled along it then up the wall toward the crack. The Bombchu exploded when it reached the crack and a hole was blown in the wall that shone sunlight right on the sun emblem. The emblem changed and the barred door unlocked. Going through the door put them on some kind of staircase that was in a larger room, and an Armos statue was right beside the door. Young Link cautiously touched it and strangely it did not activate.

"It must be a real statue." Shippo said. Young Link looked over the ledge it was sitting on, and saw a switch. He then got on the other side of the statue and began to push. "Link, what are you doing?" Shippo now asked.

"I'm activating the switch down there. What does it look like I'm doing?" Young Link replied.

"Looks like you're going to break the statue into hundreds of pieces if you ask me." Young Link ignored him as he pushed the statue over the edge of the ledge. Strangely, the statue did not break when it landed on the switch. It pressed it down and they both heard bars open above them. Going up the staircase now, they both came to a door they assumed had been barred shut until they had moved the statue. They were about to go through the door when Shippo tapped on Young Link's shoulder. "Uh, Link, look at this room we're in, and how big it is." Young Link turned around and gasped. The room they were in truly was huge! It looked to be almost four stories tall! There was writing over one of the walls and across the room on the other side of it was another staircase exactly like the one they were standing on the top of. But the major feature of the entire room was this giant statue of a meditating Gerudo that seemed to take up the entire four story height of one of the walls.

"This must be the main worship hall of this temple." said Young Link.

"You said it Link. Where I come from, even statues of Buddha don't get that large." Shippo said. They turned around and went on through the doorway. A curved corridor with a set of stairs in it was now where they were. There were also burning braziers on the walls with an unlocked door at the end. The room it led them into Young Link immediately saw several silver rupees in. There were several low walls whose tops were wide enough to walk upon in the room, with some of the silver rupees on top of those walls. There were also a few spike blocks moving around in places on the floor, a few unlit braziers, and also some movable blocks in the room as well. Young Link finally saw that there were a few Beamos in the room, and got out his bag of explosives.

Shippo now made a mistake as he started to wander around the room and started to come a little too close to a Beamos.

"Shippo watch out! Don't get too close to the-" Young Link started, but he was too late. Shippo did get too close to the Beamos and it fired its laser beam at him.

"Yeowch!" Shippo screamed as the laser beam of the laser beam of the Beamos hit him right in the chest. He jumped backwards in reflex to it, but then began to feel a huge surge of pain in his chest. "Owwww!" Link it hurts!" he said as he dropped to his knees then laid down on his back. Young Link ran up to him and saw a blackened hole in Shippo's clothes over his chest. Shippo continued to cry in huge pain as Young Link now undid his clothes to see his chest. He did not like what he saw.

There was a very nasty black, scorched spot on Shippo's chest where the laser beam had hit him. Young Link quickly got out a bottle of his red medicine.

"Shippo, here, drink this, it'll heal you and take the pain away." Young Link said. Shippo eagerly yanked the bottle from his hand, popped it open and greedily drank from it. At first the surging pain didn't subside and tears of pain continued to roll from Shippo's eyes, but then Young Link started to see the scorch mark shrink on Shippo's chest. Meanwhile the pain began to deaden too for Shippo, and he stopped crying from it. "Is the pain gone?" Young Link asked.

"Almost, it's a lot easier for me to handle Link. You're right, that stuff is working great. What are you looking at?" Shippo asked.

"Scorched spot on your chest from the Beamos. It's going away now that the medicine's kicking in. Can you move yet? It's the pain deadened enough?"

"Yeah, I can move. I'm sore, but not so sore that I can't move. Why?"

"Get back to the door while I take care of the Beamos in here."

"Right." Shippo then with some wincing got up and walked back over to the door they entered the room from while Young Link got his bag of explosives back out and proceeded to use his bombs to destroy the Beamos in the room. That done, Young Link now walked back over to Shippo.

"Okay Shippo, you feeling okay to use your kitsune-bi to light the braziers in here and grab the rupees? Those Beamos were the only danger in here." he said. Shippo nodded.

"I'll get right on it." he said. Shippo now transformed into his floating ball form and went around the room grabbing the silver rupees. This time collecting them lit a brazier in the room that Young Link noticed was the kind that was fueled and would not go out quickly.

"Well that was a complete waste. You don't even need that thing Shippo to light the other braziers." Young Link said.

"Yeah, that was pointless. Wish we'd known that." Shippo replied after he returned to his normal self. He then went around the room, avoiding the spiked blocks, and used _kitsune-bi_ to light the other braziers. Now a small wooden chest dropped out of the ceiling when the last brazier was lit. Shippo smiled when he opened it. "Now that wasn't a waste." he said as he held up the door key he was now holding for Young Link to see.

"We've got a key, but the door out of here is still locked." Young Link said as he gestured to the still barred up door in one corner, different from where they had entered the room. A frustrated look now came to Shippo's face.

"Drat. Now what do we do?" he said. Young Link looked around and now saw that sunlight was coming in through a window in another corner of the room. He now started looking around and found the movable blocks. Climbing up on them, he noticed that one of them had a sun emblem like they'd seen earlier.

"Ah ha!" Young Link said. He noticed that the block with the sun emblem on it was blocked in and immovable at the moment by the other movable blocks. Shippo now walked over.

"What'd you find Link?" he asked as Young Link now started to move the other blocks around to free the one with the sun emblem topping it.

"Our way to get that door open, that's what." Young Link replied. He now had all the other blocks moved. "Whew. I need to rest a moment. Shippo, this movable block I'm resting against has a sun emblem on the top of it like the one on the floor from earlier. There's a shaft of sunlight coming in from over there." Young Link pointed. Shippo saw it, and jumped up to the top of the block Young Link was resting against and saw the sun emblem.

"I get it now. So you think moving this block and the emblem into the sunlight will unlock the door." Shippo siad. Young Link, looked up at him, nodded.

"That's right. Okay, I think I'm rested enough now to give it a try." he said. He now got up and grabbed onto the block firmly and started to pull it out toward the sunlight and window, groaning as he did. Eventually he did get the block into the sunlight and the door did unlock. Behind the door was a stairway leading up to the second door they'd found locked with chains. This staircase however looked a little ominous in that there were lit braziers on the walls leading to the locked door. Young Link and Shippo carefully climbed up the stairway.

"Why do I have this feeling of dread?" Shippo said out loud.

"Be on your guard then. That always means something bad may be about to happen." Young Link said as they reached the top of the stairway and Young Link used the key to unlock and remove the chains holding the door. Opening the door led them into a room with multiple columns, burning braziers on the walls, and a red carpet leading up to a figure that made Shippo gasp.

"Link, look!" Shippo said in an excited whisper. "That's the thing that tried to kill me!" Young Link looked and saw that sitting on a throne of sorts was a huge suit of armor that Young Link had never seen before. In the hands of the armor suit was a massive battle axe.

"Could this be the Iron Knuckle Sheik spoke of?" Young Link asked.

"I'm certain it is. That's the exact same thing I ran into, and that's what Sheik called it. It may not be moving now, but it wasn't either when I first approached it. It didn't start moving and trying to chop me in half until after I touched it." Shippo said. Young Link looked at the armor suit, apparently the Iron Knuckle, and got out his Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield. He then walked up and did the one thing that Shippo didn't want him to do. Young Link swung his sword at the Iron Knuckle and hit it on the leg.

"HURSH." The Iron Knuckle huffed in a metallic voice as it started to get up. Young Link jumped back as the Iron Knuckle looked around and caught sight of him and Shippo. It now began to walk toward both of them, brandishing its huge battle axe.

A look of horror now crossed Shippo's face.

"Link what are you doing?! Have you lost it completely?!" He said in a hysterical voice, the Iron Knuckle continuing to move toward them.

"No, I haven't lost it Shippo. Hang on!" Young Link said. He then brought his hands up and a blue glow emanated around them. He then brought them down and a blue field surrounded both him and Shippo. "Alright, let's see how good this protection spell works! Try to distract it with your tricks Shippo, but still be careful! If he whacks you with that axe, you'll still be sent flying but it won't hurt nearly as bad, at least I hope!" Young Link said, Shippo was still trembling in fear a little.

"Alright Link, but you better be right!" Shippo said, then ran to the back of the Iron Knuckle and unleashed a ball of _kitsune-bi_ at it. The blue fireball struck the Iron Knuckle in the back square and it turned towards him, swinging its axe in the process. The Iron Knuckle's aim was good, as the axe hit both Shippo and Young Link!

"Ahhh!!" Shippo screamed as he was sent flying. But he amazingly didn't feel a surge of pain, thanks to the Nayru's Love spell. Instead Shippo was wheezing for air as he got back up. The axe blow had knocked the wind out of him. Young Link was wheezing too as he started to get back up.

"Huff! Well...at least...we know the...spell works." Young Link said, grunting as he got back to his feet.

"_Bunshin!_" Shippo shouted as he duplicated himself a few times then started running in circles around the Iron Knuckle. This did the trick, as now it was confused as it tried to cleave in two the fake Shippos that were running around it. Link knew this was his chance. He ran up and started slashing madly at the Iron Knuckle's armor, managing to start cutting off pieces of it.

"Shippo! Try using your dagger some!" Young Link shouted. Shippo whipped out his dagger and now jumped up onto the Iron Knuckle's helmet and started stabbing madly. Part of it's armor fell off and now it started moving around faster, trying to throw Shippo off as Young Link continued to stab at it with the Kokiri Sword. It looked like Shippo was now riding a bucking bronco in a rodeo as he continued to stab at the helmet with his dagger.

Suddenly, Young Link's Kokiri Sword stabbed all the way through the Iron Knuckle and it stopped moving completely, collapsing in the process. The barred up door leading out then un-barred itself and opened. Shippo now shook his head and bopped himself on the noggin.

"I can't believe I've been such a baka over this thing." he said.

"What do you mean by that?" Young Link asked.

"Baka means idiot, stupid, fool, etc. Link. I let myself get turned into a scaredy cat when I first saw that thing. I'm now ashamed of it, seeing as how easily we killed it just now." Shippo replied. Young Link then walked up and patted him on the back.

"Quit beating yourself up over it. If we run into any more, now we know what we have to do. Come on, let's keep moving forward." Young Link now said. Shippo's face now hardened and he nodded.

"You're right Link. We need to keep going." he said. They opened the door then and stepped out. They found themselves in a passage that now led outside. Looking around when they got outside, Young Link and Shippo now saw that they were now on the right arm of the huge statue that was on the front face of the Desert Colossus. The sun was just rising too with the coming morning. Looking around they also saw a large treasure chest.

"Wow! What phenomenal view!" Shippo said as he looked around.

"Shippo, I think we may have possibly found what we were looking for. Look at this chest. That Iron Knuckle was apparently guarding this." Young Link said as he gestured to the chest.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's open it up and see!" Shippo said. Young Link nodded and opened the chest...and lifted out the Silver Gauntlets!!! "Yay! It is them!" Shippo now shouted. Young Link was just about to get out the Ocarina of Time when they heard a scream below.

**"What are you doing?! What's going on?!"** They both heard Nabooru scream from below. Young Link and Shippo carefully came up to the hand at the end of the arm they were standing on and looked down. **"You let go of me this instant!"** Nabooru screamed again. It was then that Shippo and Young Link saw it.

Two witches on flying brooms had Nabooru in some kind of swirling quicksand hole.

**"You bastards! Why are you working for Ganondorf?!"** Nabooru again shouted. Nabooru now looked up and saw Shippo and Young Link up on the statue's hand. **"Link, Shippo, get outta here! Now! These two are using evil magic on me!"** Nabooru managed to shout out before going under the sand. The two witches then flew back inside the Sprit Temple. Young Link and Shippo were both left speechless for a few moments.

"So that's what happened to Nabooru!" Shippo said. Young Link was nodding his head.

"Uh-huh. Too bad we can't just go and inform Shawnatoree and everybody else immediately, now or in the future. But the good thing is we can now teleport back to the Temple of Time and get back to the future without worry. Let's go Shippo, time's wasting. You ready?" Young Link asked.

"You bet I am!" Shippo said. With that, Young Link then got out the Ocarina and played the Prelude of Light, and him and Shippo disappeared.

-

_I'd like to apologize for forgetting about this fic so much. Real life has been hectic lately. I'm going to again try and continue this story._


	26. Witch Sisters Of The Desert Colossus

Chapter **XXV**: _Witch Sisters of The Desert Colossus_

Seven years in the future, in a Great Fairy cave off to the side of the Desert Colossus, four people were just waking up to breakfast.

"It seems Link was right, it still is comfortable in here." Sango said as she sat up and automatically slapped Miroku's hand as it was moving toward her breasts.

"Hmm, Shippo and Link are not back yet…" Miroku now said, not seeming to notice his hand being slapped.

"I sure hope nothing has happened to them." Kagome said as she now got out and started up the stove to fry the fish they'd brought with them into the desert. "Good, no sand got into the provisions Shawnatoree gave us to use." she then said as she got a fish out and laid it out on the frying pan. It was then they heard footsteps coming down the stairs into Fairy fountain. Everybody except InuYasha and Kirara started to reach for their weapons.

"What are you guys getting worked up about? It's only Link and Shippo. I recognize their scents." InuYasha said.

"Well InuYasha, this is territory unfamiliar." said Miroku. It was then Link and Shippo stepped into the chamber from the passage.

"Kagome!" Shippo said as he ran up to her, and Kagome picked him up, hugging him. Link however, looked a little different than before. He was now wearing the Silver Gauntlets.

"Whoa Link, what are those?" Sango now asked him as the rest of the group turned and looked at him.

"These are what Shippo and I had to find here in the past." Link said.

"Yeah, and I faced down my fear of those Iron Knuckles too. I'm not nearly as scared of them as I was." Shippo now said.

"Huh? What do you mean Shippo?" Kagome asked.

"We had to fight one of those things to get to the Silver Gauntlets. The Nayru's Love spell came in pretty darn handy, as we both probably would have been killed by it had we not had that spell." Link now said.

"Link was amazing as a kid. He was telling the absolute truth when he told us he did all that earlier stuff as a kid. It gave me a huge confidence boost. And he gave me this." Shippo said as he now got out the dagger Link had given him.

"A dagger? You stab yourself with it?" InuYasha asked with a smirk.

"No I didn't." Shippo replied, glaring at him. "In fact I used it to help kill several baddies we came across."

"Indeed he did. Shippo showed himself to be adept at using that dagger. It even saved his life a couple times." Link added in.

"Hey, we also found out what happened to Nabooru too." Shippo said.

"Really? What happened to her then? Did you both find out she was a Sage? Was she attractive?" Miroku now asked. His last question earned him a knot on the head from Sango's boomerang.

"Can it houshi-sama." Sango said coldly.

"To answer your second question, we still don't know." Link said as they all sat down to the fish breakfast.

"What did you find out?" InuYasha asked.

"You guys aren't gonna believe this, but we ran into Nabooru as soon as we walked into the Temple." Shippo said. The other's eyes widened.

"She was in the same room we were in?" Kagome asked.

"Not only that, but looking through the exact same crawlspace as well. Link and I both got a little scared when we first saw her. We weren't sure if she was going to hurt us or not." Shippo continued.

"I can obviously see she didn't. What did she do?" Miroku asked.

"The unimaginable, that's what. She asked us to go and get the Silver Gauntlets _for her!_" Shippo now said. Everybody now raised an eyebrow.

"It's a good thing you didn't give them to her. You have to fight her too to get out of the temple and back to the Temple of Time?" InuYasha asked.

"She had us look for them because she confirmed to us that Ganondorf had turned the Desert Colossus into his plotting and scheming hideout. She was going to use them to break in and steal his stuff. She showed herself to be much like Shawnatoree and the other Gerudo we ran into at the Fortress. Anyway, no we didn't have to fight her." Link now said.

"Than what did you have to do to escape with them?" Sango asked.

"We didn't have to escape. That's where the thing happened to her. Right after we grabbed the Gauntlets, these two strange witches on brooms carried her out in front of the Temple!" Shippo said.

"Witches?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, witches. They both then made her sink into a batch of quicksand!" Shippo finished. Miroku now shook his head and lowered it.

"She can't be the Sage then. She's long since dead." he said. Link nodded.

"I agree with you. If she isn't the last Sage, who are they?" Link asked.

"We'll find out when you and Shippo go back into the Temple later today." InuYasha said.

"Actually Link, Shippo will not be accompanying you into the Desert Colossus now." a new voice now said from the stairway leading out. They all turned to look and saw Sheik walking into the cavern.

"Sheik?" Link asked. Sheik walked up to them.

"That's right. In the past Link, you and Shippo went through the least dangerous parts of the Spirit Temple. Now you must go through the more dangerous parts, areas that are too dangerous for Shippo to enter." Sheik said.

"Aww drat." Shippo now lamented. "Fun's over."

"Who is accompanying me then?" Link asked.

"This time, that is actually up to you, Link." Sheik said. "You now get to choose which one of the Allies will be accompanying you in fully awakening the last Sage."

Link's eyes blinked for a moment.

"Are you serious?" he asked. Sheik nodded.

"That's right. You have your choice of who you would like to take with you into the Spirit Temple. Make your choice wisely." he now said. Link put his hand to his chin and began to look the group over.

"Hmm…Kagome, you've got your powerful arrows, but you're not that good at fighting on your own." Link said. Kagome lowered her head and nodded.

"Yeah, your right Link. I need someone strong like you or InuYasha closeby all the time when I'm in situations like that." she said.

"So then, it's a toss-up between InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku." Link said, now looking at them and tapping his chin. After glancing at all three of them for a moment, Link made up his mind…and pointed at InuYasha.

"You, InuYasha. You're who I choose to accompany me. I've got a bad feeling I may be facing more of those Iron Knuckles in the rest of the Spirit Temple, and I'd feel a lot better in having the Tetsusaiga you wield close by when we do meet them. They are very heavily armored, and Tetsusaiga's ability to break through armor is what I need. It took me and Shippo too long in my mind to bring that one we faced down." Link said. InuYasha then grinned while Sango and Miroku then nodded.

"Alright, more action, just what I've been wanting!" InuYasha said as he continued to grin. "Besides, even though you supposedly can move that massive block now, you're still probably gonna need my help to get it out of the way." InuYasha now said.

"Possibly." Link replied. Now Sheik nodded.

"When do you two plan to enter the Spirit Temple?" he asked.

"Not yet. I need to rest." Link said.

"A wise choice." Sheik replied.

"Before you go Sheik, I need to know something." Link now said.

"What is it?"

"Did you happen to see the Gerudo's Fortress before traversing the desert? How did it look? Shawnatoree said her and the other Gerudo were going to wreck it up some to make it look like we escaped to try and cover up to Ganondorf the fact she let us go." Link said, some concern in his voice.

"They were wrecking it up yes, but whether or not their ruse will work remains to be seen. Now, I'll see you all at the Temple of Time after your business is finished here and the last Sage has been awoken." Sheik said, then leaving the chamber. InuYasha was about to ask him something else, but didn't get the chance.

"Keh. Skipping out again. What's he got to hide that he just appears briefly and then vanishes?" he then said, getting down into his dog-like crouch.

"Like I've said before InuYasha, it's just the way the Sheikah are. Impa was like that too when I saw her as a kid." Link said as he now started to stretch out in a spot. InuYasha looked at him.

"How long you gonna just relax while Naraku could be doing Kami-knows-what in our world?" he now asked as he walked over. Link now sighed.

"Probably until nightfall. I'm bushed InuYasha." Link said.

"I am too." Shippo said, curling up next to Kagome. Link and Shippo now both closed their eyes to get some shut-eye.

-

They wound up spending the night in the Fairy Fountain, and the next morning, InuYasha went into the Desert Colossus alone to try and move the massive granite block that was keeping them out. Again, he had no luck. Giving up, he went back to the Great Fairy Fountain, grumbling as he came back in. From then on until lunch, he had then gotten out Tetsusaiga and started running his claws over the Fang, producing a grinding noise that annoyed the others.

"Would you stop doing that?" Kagome now finally asked, in an aggravated tone.

"Then wake Link back up so we can get this done!" he said. Miroku now came over and lightly rapped him over the head with his staff.

"And you need to remember InuYasha that Link had a rough night last night going through part of that place with Shippo." he then said.

"Stupid Hylian physiology. Ain't no better than any of you mortals." InuYasha again grumbled. He then suddenly felt a knee lightly fall against his back and push him forward.

"How complimenting of you InuYasha, after all I've done for you in giving you that new sword training and helping you to make your sword even lighter. When are you going to realize that griping and grumbling does not help things out at all?" Link now said, his knee still pressing into InuYasha's back and keeping him leaned forward.

"He never will. Kagome and the rest of us have been trying to get him to stop ever since we all ran into him and it hasn't worked." Shippo said as he woke up too. When InuYasha tried to sit back up to get up and go after him, Link pressed a little harder and InuYasha relented.

"Keh. Now that you're up, let's get into that Temple and get this done." InuYasha now said. Link sighed.

"I guess there's no delaying you then." he said, then looked over at Kagome. "You have any food we can take with us that I can eat when we have spare moments?" he now asked. Kagome nodded.

"Yep. I saved some fish for you to take with you." she said, now putting some of it in a leather pouch. Link walked over and she handed the pouch to him.

"Thanks much Kagome. Alright InuYasha, let's get going and see what's going on here in this time." Link now said, and InuYasha nodded. They both then got their battle gear together and both went up the stairs out of the fountain and back into the desert outside. Walking over to the entrance to the Desert Colossus, they both entered and made their way over to the giant block of granite. Thanks to the help of the strength enhancing Silver Gauntlets of Link's, they both were able to push the massive block back until it fell into a hole and became part of the floor. Moving forward, they were now in a room very much like the one Link and Shippo had seen after crawling through the crawlspace in the past, except now there was a Beamos in the middle of the room.

"I got this thing." InuYasha said as he drew Tetsusaiga and started toward the Beamos.

"InuYasha wait-" Link started to say but was too late. The Beamos now fired its laser beam and InuYasha was hit square in the chest by it.

"YEOWCH!" InuYasha screamed in pain as he involuntarily jumped back on pure reflex. "Damn that thing hurt!" Link shook his head.

"Always jumping into things without thinking. Will you ever learn?" he now grumbled as he now got out a bomb from his bag of explosives and lit it, then throwing it at the Beamos and blowing it to pieces. This time, of the three doors that they saw, the side ones were the ones barred while a center one was locked. Link looked up and saw a crystal switch hanging from the ceiling and he got out his Longshot. Shooting the switch with it opened up both of the side doors like he thought it would.

"Well, which way do we go, InuYasha?" Link asked. InuYasha looked at him.

"How the hell should I know? I'm following you." he said, then tilted his head. "Say, I know a way we can figure this out."

"And that is?" Link asked.

"Paper, rock, and scissors." InuYasha said. Link gave him a quizzical look now.

"And what's that?" Link now asked.

"Game we play in my world and use to settle simple problems like this. If I win tow out of three times at least, we go right. If you win two out of three times at least, we go left. Here's how we play." InuYasha said, then explaining the game to Link. "You get it now?" he asked when he finished.

"Yeah, it's simple enough." Link nodded.

"Good. I'll count off. Ready?" InuYasha asked, Link nodded. "1, 2, 3!" InuYasha got rock, Link got scissors. "Rock crushed scissors, I win. Ready? 1, 2, 3!" This time InuYasha got scissors and Link got paper. "Paper cut by scissors, I win again. Ready? 1, 2, 3!" Now InuYasha got scissors again, but Link got rock. "Scissors crushed by rock. You win that one Link, but it's 2-1 in my favor. We're going right." said InuYasha.

"Fine by me. Yeah, this is a nifty way to settle things like this." Link said. Him and InuYasha now walked over to the door on the far right and opened it. On the other side of the door, looking around, InuYasha was disappointed that him and Link did not see any enemies. What they did see though make Link cringe. They were standing on a ledge overlooking a stonework half-pipe with very large boulders rolling around in it, three of them, rolling back and forth. In the walls where the half-pipe went vertical, on both sides, there were alcoves. Two alcoves were set in the eastern wall of the room, to Link and InuYasha's right, while the western wall had three alcoves. These three alcoves were the ones the boulders were lined up with as they continued to roll back and forth. Link saw that there was a large time block in the middle alcove on the western wall too, while InuYasha noticed the silver rupees in the alcoves as well.

"Dammit, no enemies. Instead we get to play 'get the rupees'." InuYasha said.

"Actually InuYasha, the enemies weren't needed. Those massive, rolling boulders are going to take their place very nicely, unfortunately for us." Link said as he now got out the Ocarina of Time and proceeded to play the Song of Time on it. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the time block didn't move. "Drat, I now remembered I have to be close to those blocks when I play that."

"Let's move forward carefully then and grab the rupees. Climb on my back Link." InuYasha offered, crouching down some so Link could climb on him, which he did. InuYasha then jumped forward inot the half-pipe, Link grabbing one silver rupee that was floating in midair as he did. InuYasha now ran from alcove to alcove, avoiding the boulders despite some close calls, with Link grabbing the silver rupees. When they were close enough, Link tried playing the Song of Time again, and the block disappeared but the only thing that was behind it was a chest with some rupees. Grabbing the last silver rupee in the alcoves unbarred a door that was at the end of the half-pipe.

Behind the door was a room with a small chest in it, but as soon as they entered it, a blob-like Like-Like monster attacked and swallowed Link up!!

"Why you little! Spit him out!" InuYasha shouted as he reared back with his right hand and delivered a huge punch to the Like-Like, POW! The Like-Like shuddered heavily, but did not spit out Link. InuYasha reared back and threw a powerful left-right combination of punches to the Like-Like that did it and Link was spat back up-but without his shield.

"Hurry and kill the thing InuYasha, before it digests my shield and we can't get it back!" Link said urgently. InuYasha ripped Tetsusaiga from its sheath and with one very efficient and smooth swing, the Like-Like was cleaved in two, releasing Link's shield. "Yuck, what a mess." Link now said as he picked up his shield, still covered in Like-Like insides. Pulling a cloth from a box on his belt, he started to clean it off while InuYasha opened the chest and found a key inside.

"We can now open that locked door." InuYasha said.

"Let's look at the left side unlocked door first, before we unlock the other one." Link suggested.

"Fine by me." InuYasha replied. Link re-equipped his shield after finished cleaning it off and they made their way back through the half-pipe room to the three doors.

The left side door led them into a room with two platforms, one of which they were standing on, and a pit of sand. Link saw a Triforce crest in the floor of the platform they were standing on close to the edge, and he started to walk up to it, but just then a wolf-creature climbed up over the edge of the sand pit and took a swipe at him!

Link, surprised, jumped back and out of pure reflex, pulled the Master Sword and swung in a forward slash that took the wolf-creature's head clean off. The beheaded body then fell back into the sand pit, it's head still laying now on the platform.

"Pathetic." InuYasha said as he walked up and kicked the head into the sandpit while Link looked closer at the Triforce mark and the room's other platform that was across from it. "Dammit, nothing in here. We should have just went on." InuYasha now said.

"Hold on a moment." Link said as he got the Ocarina of Time back ou and now played Zelda's Lullaby. A large chest then fell down from the ceiling on to the other platform. "See?" Link now said.

"Keh." Link got out his Longshot and fired it at the chest and pulled himself over to it to open it. Inside the chest he found the compass for the temple. Looking into the sand pit, he also noticed a wall with handholds leading out of it, so he decided to see if there was anything down in it too. "What the hell are you doing?!" InuYasha asked as he jumped down into the sand pit.

"Checking it anyway. With how things usually are in these dungeons and temples, you can't afford not to do this. Alright, there's nothing else in here, now we'll open up that locked door." Link said.

"Keh, I still think it's a huge waste of time doing all this." InuYasha said as they left the room and made for the locked door now. Opening the locked door led them down a corridor with a Like-Like that this time Link dispatched without any trouble and they came up to another climbing wall. Torches stuck out of the walls of the corridor as well. Climbing up the wall led them up into a very curious looking room.

There were sun carvings on the walls, and a large stone statue with a curved mirror in the center of the room, the mirror reflecting onto a wall a shaft of sunlight that shone in through a hole in the ceiling.

"What the...? What a mirror doing in here?" InuYasha asked.

"I think I know what we're supposed to do. Shippo and I first saw those sun carvings in the past. They're activated by shining sunlight on them. I hope that mirror is-OOF!" Link never got the chance to finish the sentence when he was suddnely struck in the back hard by something and fell forward onto the floor. Turning around, he saw nothing and now InuYasha was sniffing around attentedly.

"The stench of something dead!" InuYasha said. "It's moving around." he said before he was then hit by it too, knocking him on his back. InuYasha yanked out Tetsusaiga while still on his back and got up, swinging the massive sword in a huge circle but finding only air. "Dammit, I can smell it moving around the room, but I can't see it even the tiniest bit. Link, it's coming towards you again!" InuYasha now warned. Link rolled to his right now to avoid the invisible creature and fumbled in his belt for the Truth Glasses cases, but he only had his pair of them.  
"I've only got one pair of the Truth Glasses, mine." Link said as he now put them on and now saw the Floor Master hand that was harassing them. He saw it was coming up behind InuYasha. "Behind you!" Link shouted as he got to his feet and unsheathed the Master Sword.

InuYasha whirled around and brought Tetsusaiga down in a smooth slash that split the invisible Floor Master up into three smaller versions of itself. Link went after the one that split off to the right.

"It ain't dead yet, it just split up! Run forward swinging until you hit flesh!" Link said as he dashed over to his mini Floor Master and cut it up with the Master Sword, while InuYasha now ran straight forward, blindly swinging Tetsusaiga back and forth, until it hit the mini Floor Master as well. Link now sprinted over to the other side of the room where the third and last one was and quickly dispatched it.

"Is that it?" InuYasha now asked.

"Yeah, that's it, there's no more of them." Link now said, taking off his Truth Glasses and putting them back up. He now walked up the mirror statue and fortunately saw it had a pair of handles on it. "Now we just have to figure out which of these sun carvings is the real one to open the barred up door." he then said.

"Let's just try them out one at a time." InuYasha suggested. Link nodded at that, and they both grabbed a handle on either side of the statue. Turning the statue to the leftmost sun carving in the room, the carving only burned away into nothing when the sunlight hit it. "A fake." InuYasha said, and they turned the mirror to the next carving. It burned away too.

"We may have to do this to every one of them." Link said.

"Keh." However, the next carving was the real one. It activated and the door unbarred. Link and InuYasha opened the door and continued on. On the other side of the door, Link and InuYasha now found themselves on the other side of the giant room with the giant Gerudo statue in it that Link and Shippo had been in when they came in the past. As before, Link saw a Armos statue right by the door as they came out of it. He decided to push it off again, but this time, when he touched it, the Armos statue came to life!

"Yikes!" he said in shock. InuYasha then kicked the statue hard with his foot and grabbed Link and pulled him up the stairs as the statue started to spin. The statue exploded when they were halfway up the stairs. When they reached the top, they found a locked door.

"You got a key?" InuYasha asked. Link shook his head.

"No, I don't. We need to look around." Looking around, InuYasha noticed the statue.

"So that's the statue you and Shippo were talking about that's in here?" he asked.

"Yes it is."

"Hmph, I see one of those Triforce marks on one of the outstretched hands." InuYasha said, pointing.

"There's also a switch it seems over on that platform." Link said as he pointed as well. InuYasha jumped over to it while Link put on the Hover Boots and tried to walk over, but he didn't make it and fell to the floor below!

"CRAP!!" Link shouted as he gathered himself up and rolled painfully forward when he hit the floor. "Ouch! Ouch that hurt!" he said as he picked himself back up.

"Nice move there Link!" InuYasha shouted down in a mocking tone with a big smirk.

"InuYasha, come down here and get me up to that hand with the Triforce crest." Link shouted back up, ignoring InuYasha's comment.

"Damn, nothing fazes you don't it?" InuYasha said as he jumped down so Link could climb on his back to ride him up to the hand. After jumping up to it and letting him off, InuYasha jumped back to where he had just been, on the platform with the switch on it.

Link now got out the Ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby. Playing the tune dropped a chest down onto the other hand, and Link used the Longshot to get over to it. Inside Link found just what he was looking for.

"Found the key we were needing InuYasha. Come on over here and get me and take us back over to the door." InuYasha nodded and did so. "Wait, hold up." Link now said.

"Now what?" InuYasha said in an irritated voice.

"There's some unlit torches down there in front of the statue base. I want to light them." Link said. InuYasha rolled his eyes.

"Keh." he said, taking Link down there. Link used his bomb tinder box to light both torches. A large chest then became visible and inside it was the map of the temple. Now they were ready to unlock the door and proceed ahead, both of them noticing the doorway leading into the room that led right up to the statue was barred. Unlocking the door at the top of the room led them into a curved stairwell with a Beamos right in their path that Link destroyed with his bombs. The stairway led to a room with catwalks over pits that had no railings and another mummy creature floating around. This time Link grabbed InuYasha's shoulder before the hanyou had a chance to rush forward.

"That mummy will try to fry you like Volvagia did if you get close to it, but I know its weakness. Shippo and I faced one when we were here in the past." Link said.

"How?" InuYasha asked.

"It can't stand the very fire it breathes." Link said as he got out his bow.

"I think I see two of them." InuYasha said. Link nodded.

"And a Beamos as well. I'll take out the mummies. You want to try your hand with the Beamos?" Link asked. InuYasha nodded.  
"Yeah, I'm going to try something to see if it'll work better than those gunpowder devices of yours." he replied. Link now raised his bow up, nocked an arrow, and moved forward, tapping into the magical power he'd discovered days earlier at Lake Hylia. He now fired and the arrow burst into flames and burnd the first mummy creature to ashes when it hit it. Link quickly nocked a second arrow and took out the second creature the same way. Then a third one rose up out of the floor unexpectedly, but Link quick-nocked and destroyed it too with a flaming arrow.

With the room now cleared of the fire-breathing mummies, InuYasha now leaped forward and brought Tetsusaiga down in a stab into the Beamos' eyeball as it tried to shoot its laser at him from overhead, and the Beamos exploded. Link now walked over to the floor switch in the room and found that the only thing it did when he pressed it was set the spot that InuYasha was standing on on fire!!

"YEOWCH!" InuYasha screamed as he jumped out of the flames. He then stomped over to Link in a rage, but before he could punch him, Link did a leg sweep and dropped him to the floor.

"InuYasha, that was a sincere accident, so let's not get violent okay?" Link said. InuYasha just grumbled as he got back up. Looking around now, they both saw there were two doors in the room besides the one they had used to enter the room, one of them now locked. Going through the other door they found a blue colored switch with four Armos statues around it, and on the other side of the room a confused look came to Link's face upon looking at it.

On the other side of the room was a sun emblem on the wall, and a shaft of light shining in from a window onto the floor, but there was no mirror to use to shine the light onto the emblem.

"Hmm...that's a puzzle we'll have to figure out later. I don't see any way to do that right now." Link said, rubbing his chin.

"What about the statues and the floor switch?" InuYasha now asked.

"We'll just have to try them one at a time, and see which ones are really statues and which ones aren't." he said, shaking his head.

"I'll do that." InuYasha said. Link nodded and stood back now as InuYasha got Tetsusaiga back out and proceeded to play 'trial and error' with the statues. He watched with a smile as InuYasha, after activating the statue guardians one at a time, sliced them and then expertly used the Tetsusaiga as a shield against them. But then, when the last one also activated, Link quickly ran over and pulled InuYasha away.

"What the hell?" InuYasha asked, surprised.

"Don't destroy that one, or we'll never get that switch held down." Link said. They waited until after the statue went back to it's starting spot and froze again, then Link carefully walked up and stepped on the switch. One of the two barred doors in the room unbarred, and as Link expected, re-barred when he took his foot off it.

"Well?" InuYasha asked.

"Stay by the door. I've got an idea." Link now said. He then moved to where the switch was between him and the statue. He then got out his Longshot and used it to reactivate the statue. The statue then moved towards him and stepped on the switch like he hoped it would. The door unbarred. "Go InuYasha!!" Link shouted as the statue paused for a moment and Link broke into a run.

InuYasha opened the door and they both dove through just seconds before the statue stepped off the switch and the door closed and re-barred. They were now staring up a long stairwell leading up.

"Uh-oh, I think I know what this means. InuYasha, you're about to really use those new skills for the first time here in a minute." Link said as they climbed the stairwell.

"Why do you say that?" InuYasha asked.

"You'll see." Link said as they went up the stairs and then opened the door. As Link feared, they found themselves in another columned room with an Iron Knuckle sitting on a throne in front of the door out.

"What the hell..." InuYasha said.

"That, InuYasha, is an Iron Knuckle, and that's precisely the reason you are with me in this temple, him." Link said.

InuYasha walked up close to the dormant Iron Knuckle, when Link now laid a hand on him.

"Don't touch it yet, unless you want it to activate right away." he said,. InuYasha turned his head to him.

"What did you and Shippo do to kill it?" he asked.

"Just kept hacking at it. Let me engage the protection spell." Link started.

"Save it for yourself. I don't need it." InuYasha came back. "This haori also serves as real armor besides protecting me form fire." Link sighed at that.

"Just wait until that thing gets you the first time with that axe, and you may rethink that." he said.

"Keh. You ready for me to active this thing?" InuYasha now asked. Link first cast the protection spell on himself first then got out the Master Sword and his shield.

"Now I am." he said. InuYasha nodded and pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath.

"Here we go." he said, rearing back with Tetsusaiga and then striking the Iron Knuckle on the helmet, the Fang cutting a gash into it. The Iron Knuckle gave a grunt and started to get up, swinging its massive axe in a huge arc. The axe caught InuYasha hard across the shoulders and chest and set him flying, InuYasha crying out in pain as he flew.

"You okay?! You sure you don't want the spell?!" Link asked as he ran forward and stabbed the autonomous walking suit of armor, then backflipping out of the way before it could get him with its axe. InuYasha looked down at his chest. He wasn't bleeding, the fire rat haori had absorbed the axe blow at the cost of being ripped badly.

"I'm okay Link! I don't need it yet!" he shouted back, getting up as Link made another charge at the Iron Knuckle. He again stabbed it, but this time mistimed his backflip and got caught square by it's downward axe slash! He screamed in pain as he was sent flying backwards, the protection spell only making it such that he felt he'd been clobbered by a massive shield, and only had the wind knocked out of him. The Iron Knuckle started walk toward him to try and cave in his chest with another blow. It raised its axe and started to bring it down again when...**CLANG!!** The axe had been stopped in midswing by the Tetsusaiga.

InuYasha grunted as he strained a bit against the strength of the Iron Knuckle, and he then pushed back hard and managed to shove it back some. He now tried an offensive swing with the Fang and the Iron Knuckle parried it. The two now started to duel, sparks flying wildly as the Tetsusaiga and the armored automaton's axe ground together as they traded strikes.

Link now started to get his breath back and saw InuYasha and the Iron Knuckle dueling. InuYasha's sword training was really evident, as he was keeping up with the Iron Knuckle strike for strike, but he was also not managing to make any openings to get in a real strike of his own and get the upper hand.

_'He can't do it himself, despite his effort. Its defenses are too strong. I shall help him!'_ Link thought. He got up and ran around to the back of the Iron Knuckle and stabbed it from behind. It grunted and shoved forward hard, flipping InuYasha over backwards and turning to face Link now.

InuYasha landed on his feet after doing a complete backflip and one quick glance told him he had to act fast.

_'Now's my chance!'_ he thought. He ran forward and swung Tetsusaiga in a horizontal slash at the helmet of the Iron Knuckle. The Fang cut into the helmet like it was tin, and he completely took the helmet off of it. He didn't wait for it to react to his strike as he now thrust forward with the Fang, Tetsusaiga's tip going straight through the armored hulk's back. The Iron Knuckle let out a grunt and froze, and InuYasha twisted Tetsusaiga inside of it and pulled upwards, the sound of twisting metal audible as the Steel Cleaving Fang dug through it and he finally pulled the Tetsusaiga out the top of the armored hulk. The Iron Knuckle did not make another sound then as it fell forward, coming apart as it did. Link gave a big sigh of relief when it did, and smiled at InuYasha.

"Again, that's precisely why I wanted you with me InuYasha. How much of an effort was that?" he now asked. InuYasha looked at Tetsusaiga with a grin.

"That wasn't that hard at all, after getting over that initial strike he put on me. That training really has made fighting with this thing much, much easier in close quarters." he said.

"Now you know, and you now see more and more the logic in that training." Link now said. InuYasha nodded at him. "Now let's see what that massive automaton was guarding." he said as he turned around and they both made way for the door forward and out of the room.

They now found themselves outside, on the arm opposite where Link and Shippo had grabbed the Silver Gauntlets in the past. There was another large chest out here as well. Link's eyes widened in surprise and a confused look came to InuYasha's face when Link opened the chest. Inside it was a shield with a surface polished to a perfect mirror finish!

"Whoah! Just like a mirror from Kagome's era!" InuYasha exclaimed. Link grinned.

"This is just what we were needing too. Now we have a way of reflecting the sunlight onto that one sun emblem back there." Link said, then he looked out onto the hand of the arm they were now standing on. "Before we go back InuYasha, you want to see where those two witches made Nabooru disappear?" he asked. InuYasha shrugged.

"Why not? We won't be coming back this way. Might as well." he said. Link led him out onto the hand of the arm and pointed down towards the entrance to the Desert Colossus.

"Right there." Link said, pointing to the spot. "That's where the witches opened up a batch of quicksand and pulled Nabooru down to her death. Shippo and I both witnessed it." he said. InuYasha was now looking too, and he shook his head.

"Damn, what a way to go, buried alive in the sand. Did she notice you two watching?" he now asked.

"Actually she did, just before her head went under. She shouted out at us to get out of here before the witches decided to come after us, and we heeded it. After she went under, I played the Prelude of Light on the Ocarina and got Shippo and I both back to the Temple of Time in a hurry. Those witches would have had an easy time of us both had they decided to come after us." he said. InuYasha nodded.

"Good work then. Now, let's get back to that one room and see what that strange shield can do." he now said.

"I agree." Link replied. They went back to the opening and re-entered the Iron Knuckle room, still empty. After entering it, Link now noticed a strange problem they would now have. "Hmm...I've now got two shields." he said.

"You gotta leave one of 'em behind. We may need to drop that Mirror Shield after we get through that one puzzle." InuYasha now said. Link shook his head.

"I don't think that's wise. From how these dungeons have been, we're most certainly going to have to use this Mirror Shield when we fight whatever monster is in the main chamber of this temple." he said. A look of aggravation appeared on InuYasha's face.

"I ain't carrying that damn thing! You can't use it as a normal shield! The first blow it absorbs will be when that polished surface gets irreparably gouged and maybe broken, then it won't act like a mirror at all!" he said. Link ran one of his fingernails across the Mirror Shield's polished surface, and sighed.

"There's only one way to test that theory of yours then, InuYasha." Link said as he now started to wear the Mirror Shield after putting down his normal Hylian Shield. "InuYasha, swing at me one time with Tetsusaiga and I'll block the blow with the Mirror Shield." InuYasha sighed.

"So you want to go ahead and break it now do you? For a Hylian you sure lack common sense." InuYasha said as he unsheathed the Fang.

"I don't think one nick will harm its supposed reflective ability. I got a hunch though that with how fine the craftsmanship is with it, that the forger and polisher knew what they were doing in making it into a shield. If it gets seriously nicked, then yeah, you are going to have to carry and be the one to use it then." Link now said. InuYasha growled as he readied the Tetsusaiga, then took one well-squared up swing at the Mirror Shield with it.

WHANG!! The Fang made solid contact with the Mirror Shield and both combat implements rung like well-tuned bells, indicating that the Mirror Shield indeed was a forged piece like the Tetsusaiga. InuYasha now sheathed the Fang and they both proceeded to inspect the Mirror Shield, and were both left agape.

"What the..." InuYasha said.

"Amazing..." Link also said.

**The Mirror Shield did not have even the slightest blemish on its polished surface after absorbing the blow from the Tetsusaiga!!**

"Damn..." InuYasha stated. "I bet Toutousai would love to get his hands on this thing if he saw it! If that thing can stop the Tetsusaiga like that, it damn well will stop anything!" he exclaimed.

"I bet he would. That settles it then. I'm using this as my main shield from now on. That brings me to a proposition for you InuYasha." Link now said, and InuYasha looked at him.

"And what's that?" he asked.

"How would you like to have my normal shield and use it during the rest of the time we're in here?" Link proposed. InuYasha's face contorted.

"I don't think so. I don't see why you'd even ask me that. You trained me to use Tetsusaiga as a shield as well as a sword because of its heft, size and also because of it being a two-handed weapon. I don't know where you got that idea." he now said. Link sighed again.

"Just trying to see if we can find a way to still use the normal shield. I don't like throwing stuff away unless I absolutely have no other choice, and this looks like one of those times." he now said as he now dropped the scarred up and nicked Hylian Shield to the floor. It had seen hard use and Link had known it was starting to get close to breaking. They both now left the room and proceeded back to the four Armos room as well as the mirror-less sun emblem.

Link walked over to the shaft of sunlight and got out the Mirror Shield and they both saw that the shield, as expected, reflected the sunlight. Link reflected the light onto the emblem and the barred up door right beside the emblem opened up. A simple room beyond the door contained a chest with a key.

"All that work for just a key? I'm disappointed." InuYasha said, his hands on his hips.

"I get a feeling though InuYasha we're going to be using this shield a few more times in the same manner we just did. How we're potentially going to use it to bring down the monster of this temple I don't have a clue at all." Link replied.

"I bet we're going to find that thing's useless against it actually and we'll have to resort to using one of the Tetsusaiga's attacks, the Wind Scar or the Backlash Wave." InuYasha now said.

"You really wanna wager on that?" Link now asked, an amused grin coming to his face. InuYasha smirked.

"Why not? Only problem is that I ain't got any of those gems you Hylians use for money. All I've got on me are the Yen coins I won from Kagome in a game of cards." he now said. Link continued to grin.

"They'll do. Hopefully after they're melted down when this is over, the metals in them can be pawned off for a few rupees." he said.

"You gotta WIN the bet first. Now, let's open that last locked door we found and find that monster so we can settle this and get this over with." InuYasha said. They both left the room and went back into the room where the floating mummies had been earlier and unlocked the door in there.

What they found behind the locked door surprised them both, Link whistling actually. The room they were now in contained a HUGE and TALL wall! It was easily more than eighty feet tall. Not only that, but in the parts of the wall immediately adjoining it, about five feet out from the wall face on either side, were spikes running the entire height of the main wall face from the floor up to the ledge. That was not all though, for Link and InuYasha both heard the sounds of machinery behind the wall that was making parts of the wall face move back and forth, parts of it also being polished smooth as marble, while other parts had bricks sticking out as hand holds.

"What the hell is this?" InuYasha asked.

"I've just got one question for you InuYasha. You think you can jump all the way up to the ledge?" Link only asked.

"I'll give it shot. I agree with you, there's no way in hell I'm climbing that if it can be jumped." InuYasha replied. They both now also noticed a pair of Beamos in the room that Link destroyed with his bombs. InuYasha now walked up to the wall face, squatted, and leaped up as hard and as high as he could. Unfortunately, he was only able to make it halfway up before he started to fall back to the floor and he braced his legs and landed with a big grunt. "Dammit, we're still going to have to climb part of this damn thing." he said. Link now got out his Longshot and took aim at part of the wallface that had the hand holds, and fired. He was completely surprised to find his Longshot managed to dig in about about the same height up InuYasha had reached in his jump. After quickly grabbing on with his hand and legs and putting the Longshot up, he started to climb up the rest of the way, only moving when the moving sections of the wall face were completely still. He eventually managed to make it up to the top ledge.

InuYasha jumped up again and grabbed hold, but just as he began to move from one sliding section to another, the section moved and he lost both his grip and his balance!

"AAH!!" InuYasha screamed as he fell before landing on his back. "OOF!!" InuYasha now started gasping as the wind had been knocked out of him.

"You alright?" Link now shouted down at him. After a few seconds of heavy gasping, InuYasha managed to gasp some air back into his lungs.

"Ouch!! Dammit that hurt!!" he shouted, then looked and felt himself over before looking back up at Link. "Just bruised up is all Link. I hate this wall!!" He now carefully watched the moving patterns of where he had just been before he tried jumping again. This time he managed to make it all the way up safely after jumping up and grabbing hold. "Damn I hope we don't have to come this way again." he said.

"Yeah, this is one wall I don't want to have to climb a second time." Link agreed. There were another pair of Beamos close to them now guarding the door out, and they both each took one of them out, InuYasha being fast enough to rip the head off of his and throw it over the ledge, watching it explode in midair, before him and Link both ventured through the door.

They were now looking up some more steps to another barred up door. InuYasha turned and lightly punched the wall.

"Freaking dead end. Let's see if there's anything in here anyway." he said. Link nodded.

"I'm glad you're now not just giving up at seeing these things." he replied, now walking up the stairs. He looked around and then motioned for InuYasha to follow him up, not saying anything. InuYasha did, and one of his eyebrows raised in light surprise.

"Bit of a relief, there's still a way forward." he said, seeing off to his right another small set of stairs leading to a second door that was unbarred and unlocked. Now he looked down and saw a Triforce crest on the floor. "You get to play some more on that flute of yours, Link."

"It's called an Ocarina, InuYasha, and before I do it, let's go through that other door." he replied, pointing up the other stairs. InuYasha nodded.

Beyond it was a medium size room with an upper level and a lower level, and an angled ceiling. In the area of the ceiling over the lower floor was a mirror, with four holes around it, chains hanging out of the holes and going all the way down and into the lower floor. One of the sidewalls adjacent to the lower floor was a sun emblem. InuYasha and Link were standing on the upper floor, and across them was another door that was barred. They both looked around.

"No sunlight in here. We're gonna have to get sunlight in here somehow." InuYasha said.

"There's a barred up alcove with a crystal switch in it over here." Link noticed, then looking down at the lower floor. "I'm positive those chains are supporting a platform that's embedded in the floor. That switch is either going to move the platform or open that door."

"Only one way to find out." InuYasha said, pulling Tetsusaiga. Slipping the Fang's blade between the bars, he tapped the switch with it and the bars blocking the far door retracted. InuYasha saw beyond the bars another room. "Link, look down through there." he said, pointing. The Hylian joined him in looking. They both saw in the room beyond a mirror.

"That's the mirror we've got to get sunlight to. There's got to be hole in a ceiling somewhere beyond that door with sunlight shining through it." Link said.

"Come on then, let's get lookin'!" InuYasha now said as he pulled him over to the door and they went through.

The room on the other side had a floor of sand and they both heard sounds of creatures but couldn't see anything.

"Smell anything InuYasha?" Link now asked. The hanyou took a few sniffs.

"Bones, and something reptile like." he replied. Link got out his Truth Glasses to look through them, but couldn't see anything hidden.

"Nothing. Keep your guard up." he said as he took them off. They both readied their weapons and moved forward into the room. Their suspicions were confirmed when as soon as they stepped out of the alcove containing the door, a man-sized lizard creature dropped down from the ceiling. "A Lizalfos. I got this guy InuYasha. He's not worth soiling Tetsusaiga with." Link now said.

"Do it then." InuYasha replied, stepping aside. The fight was over before it even began. Link moved forward and quickly and efficiently stabbed the Lizalfos three times and it fell over dead. InuYasha again shook his head as he walked up and kicked the corpse.

"Absolutely pathetic." he said. Him and Link now looked more around the room and saw a passageway, open, leading into another area. In that area was a mirror with a shaft of sunlight shining down onto it. There were also a pair of skulls flying around in there. "I got the skulls." InuYasha said, now moving forward. The skulls were spinning in place briefly then dashing around and InuYasha quickly disposed of them each in one strike when they stopped. He now looked around. "Hey Link, we got a problem!" he hollered back through the passageway at thim.

"What is it?" Link asked as he walked into the new room too.

"No new passageway to turn the mirror into." InuYasha replied.

"Then try hitting your sword on the walls and look for a hollow spot." Link said. InuYasha shrugged and did so, and found a spot that sounded different when he clanged the Tetsusaiga against it. Link now pulled a bomb out of his explosives bag, lit it and quickly set it down on the floor next to the spot.

"Fire in the hole!" Link shouted and he and InuYasha dove into the passageway leading out. **BLAM!!** Sand, dust and rock flew as the hollow area of the wall was destroyed. InuYasha was the first6 to get up and look to see if the mirror was damaged.

"You know Link, you could have easily destroyed the mirror too doing that and then we'd be in deep crap." he said in an aggravated voice. Link's eyes widened as he got up.

"Yeah, you're right. We should have tried to see if we could have dug through it first." he replied.

"We just got damn lucky just then, the mirror ain't damaged." InuYasha said after checking it over. Looking through the new passageway they had created, they saw the room they had seen earlier through the bars. They both now got on either side of the mirror, grabbing the handles of it, and then turning it so it shined the sunlight onto the second mirror. Moving forward to the second one, another Lizalfos dropped down that was dead as soon as it's feet hit the floor thanks to InuYasha pulling Tetsusaiga and in the same motion lopping off the creature's head. They both then turned the second mirror so that it was now shining into the tiered room and the light was hitting the angled mirror on the ceiling. They both proceeded back to the tiered room.

"Hold on InuYasha. I want to open that other door with Zelda's Lullaby before I shine the light on the emblem." Link now said. InuYasha 'Keh'd' and folded his arms.

"Make it quick then. You know how impatient I get." he shot back.

"I will, trust me." Link replied back before stepping out to the hallway where that door was. He walked up to the Triforce crest, pulling the Ocarina of Time as he did, and played Zelda's Lullaby. The door unbarred and opening it, Link found himself in a room full of large, flaming slugs that he remembered him and InuYasha running into in the Fire Temple, and there were a bunch of them. _'Great, maybe it would have been better to have dragged InuYasha along in here. Gotta be careful.'_ Link thought. He walked carefully toward one of the slugs, trying to excite just that one and none of the others. The slug saw him, stiffened up and started toward him, jumping at him when it got close enough.

Link used the Mirror Shield to block it, then pulled the Master Sword and struck back in the same stroke, putting the fire on it out. One more strike killed it. He disposed of all the slugs in the room in this fashion. Looking around now in the room, he saw an ornate chest guarded by flames. _'The big key to the monster's lair is in that.'_ he thought. Floating above it mysteriously was an ice platform with a switch on it. Looking further up at the ceiling he saw a target for the Longshot, but upon closer inspection he discovered that the target was not over the platform, it would not drop him on it were he use the Longshot.

"Hmm..." Link thought, looking around some more. He now saw numerous doors in the room and walked up to one and tried to open it. However, the door only wiggled back and forth and then fell on him! "Ouch!!" Link grunted as he now lifted the heavy door off himself. "Well, what do I do now?" he thought out loud. He looked around the room at the similar looking doors. _'Those other doors are most likely fakes too. Might as well destroy them.'_ he thought. He opened his bomb bag back up and started setting bombs at each one of the fake doors. Off in the tiered room, InuYasha could faintly hear the explosions as they went off, and he also felt the walls and floor rumble from the blasts.

"What the hell is he up to? He's been gone too long already. If he's not back in another five minutes, I'm going after him. Bet he's gotten himself in deep crap and I'll have to bail him out." the hanyou said in an aggravated voice. Back in the other room, after the last false door was destroyed, Link found what he was looking for. The last one had been hiding an eye switch.

"Let's see what happens now." he now said, rearing back to throw a piece of fake door debris at the eye switch. He pitched the debris at it, and there was first a click as the switch activated and closed, then a gust of cold wind, like an arctic chill, blew through the room for a moment. Link thought the cold wind would put out the flames around the ornate chest. When they didn't, he now looked around the room again, confused. _'That switch did something, but what?'_ he thought. It was then he noticed a feeling of cold decend upon him from above. Looking up, he raised an eyebrow.

What he saw was that now there was a new ice platform above his head, now directly under the Longshot target so he could now get up to the suspended switch. After getting up to the new platform using his Longshot, the switch did what we was hoping it would do when he pressed it: it extinguished the flames around the ornate chest. InuYasha opened the door and entered the room just as he opened the chest and removed the boss key.

"Link, what's with all the gunpowder blasts?" he asked, taking the boss key as they both left the room now.

"Undoing the traps meant to throw me off that's what. The puzzles in there left me scratching my head for a minute or two." InuYasha now had a confused look come to his face.

"What in there required you to use so much gunpowder? I didn't see any blasted walls." he asked, scratching his dog ears as they re-entered the tiered room and dropped down to the lower level of it.

"You remember the fake doors that fell on you several times in the Fire Temple?" Link now asked. Now InuYasha looked disgusted and nodded.

"Yeah, I remember those damned things. Don't tell me, you had to blow up a bunch of them didn't you?" the hanyou now asked, receiving a nod from the Hylian in return.

"I did. Now, let's see what happens when we shine light on this emblem." he said, now pulling the Mirror Shield off his back. InuYasha stood beside him as he got in the shaft of light being reflected down from the angled mirror and then shined it on the sun emblem using it.

There was a loud click, and then the sound of machinery as they both discovered the purpose of the chains running from the ceiling down into the floor. The part of the floor they were on really was a suspended platform, and the platform was now being lowered down.

"Whoa, I wasn't expecting this!" InuYasha said as he now looked around wide-eyed.

"I was. Those chains coming out of the ceiling and being bolted up tight to the floor, and under tension without any slack were my big clue. InuYasha, you notice anything familiar about what we're being lowered down into?" Link now asked as they now were lowered into a very large room. InuYasha waited for the platform to stop moving before he looked around. When he did, the answer was obvious.

"We're back in the giant statue room." he said. The platform was now suspended right in front of the face of the giant Gerudo statue. "Question now is, what the hell are we doing in front of the face of it?" Rubbing his chin with one hand, his other hand now found its way to the hilt of Tetsusaiga. Link put a hand on his shoulder at that, and shook his head at him.

"No InuYasha, not the _Kaze no Kizu_. You might cause the room to collapse." he said. InuYasha's annoyed look returned.

"What then? We can't use your gunpowder devices then for the same reason." he replied. Link looked up at the shaft of light that was still shining down from the room above.

"It may not work but..." Link pulled the Mirror Shiled off his back again and shined the sunlight off of it onto the face, and him and InuYasha were then amazed at what happened.

**The face started to crack and fall away!** After a few seconds, the hardened sand composed of the statue's face had all completely fallen to the floor!

"Damn..." InuYasha said. Link nodded in agreement, then his eyes narrowed as he looked closer. What had been revealed was a gate. Beyond it, they both now saw the outline of the large lock the boss key fit in that InuYasha was still holding.

"Hmm...how are we getting that gate open..." Link wondered out loud. InuYasha scratched his ears again.

"I'm clueless on this one." the hanyou said simply. Upon closer inspection, Link noticed the gate bars were not made of metal, but instead of bamboo it looked like. He pulled out the Longshot. InuYasha, without being asked, put the boss key on his belt and then got behind Link, putting his arms around the Hylian. "Ready when you are, Link."

"Hang on." Link replied as he pulled back on the Longshot's handle, and let fly. The flying hook grabbed onto the bamboo bars of the gate and pulled them both over. After the Longshot's hook released, the gate then retracted on its own. InuYasha pulled the boss key from his belt.

"You ready to go in?" he asked, patting one end of the key against his palm. Link nodded.

"Open it. I'm ready to get this over with too, just like you are." he replied. With that, InuYasha then stuck the key into the lock and turned it. The lock opened, the key broke apart, and InuYasha opened the door and him and Link now proceeded on through.


End file.
